


Bittersweet Symphony

by SydnieAust



Series: Teens, Lies, and Death [2]
Category: Glee, Pretty Little Liars
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2020-06-28 03:23:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 15
Words: 39,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19803715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SydnieAust/pseuds/SydnieAust
Summary: "This was never about scaring us, that was just a bonus. And this started with murder we were stupid to think it wouldn’t end up like this."Tragedy has just struck and Q is doubling down on their attacks on the liars. Did Mercedes survive? Will Quinn come back to Lima? And who the hell is Q? Sequel to Teens, Lies, and Death.





	1. Innocent Until Proven Guilty

**Author's Note:**

> Wayne Lopez is played by Mark Consuelos

* * *

The doorbell rings.

“I’ll get it!” says Melissa. She opens the door and there’s a cop.

“Mrs. Jones?”

“No,” answers Melissa. “My parents are upstairs. What’s this about?”

“Oh, hello, Barry. Something wrong?” asks Veronica when she, Peter, and Bryce show up at the door.

“I’m afraid so. It just came over the radio. I’m sorry, but your daughter’s been involved in an accident.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Back at the school, the ambulance is there and Mercedes is being strapped to a gurney and loaded in.

“Is that Mercedes?” asks Rachel when she comes over.

“Yeah,” answers Finn. “Where have you been?”

“I’ve been with my dads,” she answers. “We were inside when all of this happened.”

“How convenient,” mutters Santana.

Then, Sean and Nick arrive on the scene.

“Hey, what happened?” asks Nick.

“Mercedes was hit by a car,” answers Sam.

“What?!” exclaims Sean. “Is she okay?”

“What kind of stupid fucking question is that?” asks Santana. “Of course, she’s not okay!”

“Santana, calm down,” says Kurt as he puts his arm around her. “We have to get to the hospital. Is everyone okay to drive?”

They all mutter “fines” and head to their vehicles.

“Okay. Let’s go,” says Kurt to Santana as he walks her all the way to the car.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The glee club and Mr. Shue are all in the waiting room of the hospital. Kurt, Santana, and Sam are all on their phones.

“Mercedes’ parents are with the doctor,” says Kurt talking to Burt. “I’m okay. They don’t know who was driving the car. “

“We were at the school and Mercedes got a text,” says Santana talking to Maribel. “So, we were going to the parking lot to meet her and that’s when she got hit.”

“She was unconscious,” says Sam talking to Mary. “We couldn’t talk to her. That’s why we wanna wait, maybe they’ll let us see her or something.” Sam looks up to see Mercedes’ family comes out into the waiting room. “Um, I’ll call you back when I know something. Bye, Mom.” He hangs up the phone. “Is she okay, Mrs. Jones?”

“She is going to be alright,” answers Veronica. She sniffles. “She, um…she has a broken leg and a broken ankle, bruised ribs and, uh, they might have to remove her spleen.”

“What happened to my daughter?” asks Peter, kind of intimidating.

“Mercedes was coming across the parking lot and this car just came out of nowhere,” answers Kurt.

“Well, the police found the car. They said it was stolen,” says Peter.

“Did they catch the driver?” asks Mr. Shue.

“No, not yet,” answers Veronica.

“Cops should be looking for Karofsky,” says Sam begrudgingly.

“It wasn’t David Karofsky. The police picked him up,” says Bryce.

“What?” says Kurt in shock.

“One of the officers told us they found him hiding in town and they were bringing him in when they got the call about Mercedes,” clarifies Melissa.

“You kids should go home,” says Peter. “We’ll call you when Mercedes can have visitors.”

“Just let Mercedes know that we were here,” says Sam.

“I will, when she wakes up,” says Peter. Mercedes’ family heads back into her room.

“Karofsky isn’t Q,” says Kurt.

“Well, Mercedes knows who is. That’s why Q tried to kill her,” says Santana.

“Think they’re just trying to scare you?” asks Sam.

“Well, it worked. This was never about scaring us, that was just a bonus. And this started with murder we were stupid to think it wouldn’t end up like this,” says Kurt.

“So, should you tell the cops?” asks Tina.

“Tell them what?” asks Santana bitterly.

“Everything,” says Tina.

“I don’t know.

“Wait. What is going on?” asks Mr. Shue. “Who is this ‘Q’ person? Why would they want to hurt Mercedes?”

Kurt sighs. “They don’t want to just hurt Mercedes. They want to hurt me and Santana as well.”

“Who is ‘they’?” asks Mr. Shue.

“That's what they don’t know,” says Sam.

“Well if someone is hurting you, why didn’t tell anyone?” asks Mr. Shue.

“We told the glee club, just not you,” says Kurt.

“Why not?” asks Mr. Shue, trying not to be hurt.

“Because, there were things that happened and we didn’t anyone to know,” answers Santana. “And if we were to tell the cops or an adult we didn’t know if they’re with Q or not. And if Q ever found out, there’s no telling what they’ll do.”

“We know what they’d do,” says Kurt. “We’re living it right now.”

“You guys know that I would never do anything like that to you. You guys are my family. And I will protect you, no matter what,” says Mr. Shue.

“Thank you Mr. Shue,” says Santana.

“But this means you cannot tell anyone what we told you. It’s already dangerous enough that the glee club knows,” says Kurt.

“You have my word,” promises Mr. Shue.

“So, now what do we do?” asks Puck.

“Santana and I will talk to Mercedes before we do anything,” answers Kurt.

“Is Mercedes safe here?” asks Artie.

“Yeah. Nothing will happen to her while her family is with her,” answers Kurt.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The next morning, Mercedes is awake and talking with her family.

“When they find the maniac, who did this to you, I will kill him. After I kill him, I will sue him,” says Peter.

Mercedes giggles weakly. “Have you guys seen Kurt or Santana?”

“Yeah, they were here. We sent them home,” says Peter.

“That cutie Sam was here. And the rest of the glee club was here, too,” adds Veronica.

“Mm. I need to call Kurt. They have to come back,” says Mercedes.

“That can wait,” says Veronica.

“No, mom, it can’t,” says an adamant Mercedes.

“Okay, okay, sweetheart, I will call them, now relax.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Kurt is over at Blaine’s apartment and they’re looking at the writing on Blaine’s car window.

“I didn’t see it till I came down this morning,” says Blaine.

“Maybe somebody put it there after you parked,” says Kurt.

“Kurt, we both know when this happened. This happened last night.”

“I don’t know that and neither do you.”

“’I SEE YOU’? Not ‘WASH ME.’ Not ‘GO TITANS.’ ‘I SEE YOU.’ That’s very specific.”

“Maybe it’s specific, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

“Kurt, it means somebody saw us last night.”

“It doesn’t mean anything,” he tries to promise. He goes over to the car and washes it off.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Santana and her family are having breakfast. Obviously, Santana is still pretty shaken up.

“Here you go,” says Maribel passing the eggs over to Wayne.

“Thank you,” says Wayne. He puts some eggs on his plate and tries to pass some over to Santana.

“I really don’t want anything, Dad.”

“You need to eat some breakfast, Mija,” says Maribel.

“And I don’t want you driving to the hospital if you’re stressed out,” says Wayne. “Give Puck a call, see if he’ll give you a lift.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Puck and I are sort of really over,” says Santana.

“I know one thing, everyone in town feels safer with that David Karofsky locked up,” says Alma.

“What happened to innocent until proven guilty, Abuela?” asks Santana.

“Guilty or not, he’s better with the police than wandering around,” Alma answers.

“There’s always more to a story than people think,” says Santana. Her phone beeps.

“Not at the table, Mija,” reprimands Alma.

“It might be about Mercedes,” says Santana.

“It’s all right, Alma,” says Wayne.

Santana looks at her phone and sees a text from Veronica. _Mercedes would like some company. – Veronica J._

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Kurt and Santana are at the hospital and it’s a little awkward with Mercedes’ family still in the room.

“Does it hurt?” asks Santana.

“Yeah, kind of,” answers Mercedes.

“Do you remember what happened?” asks Kurt.

“Uh, yeah, I remember.” Mercedes clears her throat. “Um, Mom, Dad, you guys have been here the whole time. Do you wanna take a break?”

“Are you sure?” asks Veronica.

“Yeah.”

“We’ll be back in a couple of hours, sweetheart,” says Peter as he kisses her on her forehead. Veronica, Peter, Melissa, and Bryce gather all their things and head out of the room.

Mercedes takes a breath. “Sean Simmons is Q.”

“What? Are you serious?” asks Santana.

“Yeah, I saw him in the woods, and he left a Q message,” says Mercedes.

“You saw him leave a message?” asks Kurt.

“He wrote something on the back of a car,” explains Mercedes.

“What did he write?” asks Santana.

“'I see you,’” answers Kurt.

“How do you know?” asks Santana.

“I was in the car,” answers Kurt.

“Well whose car was it?” asks Santana.

Kurt sighs. “Blaine Anderson.”

“ _Mr_. Anderson?” asks Santana incredulously. She turns to Mercedes. “'Cedes?”

Mercedes nods. “It was Mr. Anderson.”

“You and Mr. Anderson. You met up with him?” asks Santana.

“I couldn’t tell anyone. I promised Blaine,” says Kurt.

“Blaine?! Wait. This is something that’s been going on? You and a teacher?” smirks Santana.

“Well, I didn’t just get into his car last night. Who do you think I am?”

“How long have you been seeing him?” asks Mercedes.

“Since the first day of school.”

“Oh, my God! How?” asks Mercedes.

“Finn and I went to the Lima Bean before school. He was there and he flirted with me and I flirted back. And when I got to school, there he was at the front of the classroom.”

“Wait, so, you were seeing a teacher when you were with Sean?” asks Mercedes.

Kurt nods.

“And why did you get in his car last night?” smirks Santana.

“Well, he, um, called me and…” Santana gives him a look. “Oh, don’t look at me like that.”

“God, my head hurts just as much as my leg now,” says Mercedes.

“What exactly did you see, ‘Cedes?” asks Kurt.

“Well, I saw you go into a parked car and then I saw someone in a black hoodie write something on the back of the car window. And when he turned around it was Sean.”

“No, it can’t be Sean.”

“Kurt, I know what I saw.”

“And Q tried to kill her for it,” says Santana.

“Okay, but none of us saw who was driving the car,” says Kurt.

There’s a knock on her door.

“If that’s someone with painkillers, just let them in,” says Mercedes.

Kurt goes over to open the door. “Sean.”

“Thought I’d try to visit,” says Sean holding a bouquet of flowers.

Kurt pushes Sean out the door and closes the door behind him. “Yeah, she just fell asleep. We were getting ready to leave.”

“Is she gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, we hope so.”

Sean shakes his head in disbelief. “This is so insane.”

Kurt clears his throat. “Yeah, you’re right about that. Well, um, I’ll take this in for you.” He grabs the bouquet from Sean.

“We need to talk.”

Kurt nods his head. “I know.”

“You’ll call me?”

“Sure, yeah.” Sean starts to walk away when Kurt calls him back. “Sean. Where were you when the accident happened?”

“Inside, talking with my parents and Nick. Why?”

“Um no reason. I was just wondering. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye.” He turns around and leaves.

“Bye.” Kurt opens and closes the door and walks into the room. “He lied to me about being there. He said he was inside with Nick and his parents.”

Santana and Mercedes look at each other with worry on their faces.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

At Santana’s house, her parents are on the couch enjoying some alone time.

“You know, this house isn’t gonna clean itself,” says Maribel.

“This house looks fine to me,” replies Wayne.

“You know, the water heater is on its last leg.”

“I’ll take care of it, mi amor.”

“Heh. I’m sorry.”

“About what?”

“You come home, and all I do is rattle off a list of things that are broken.”

“It’s all right. It makes me feel needed.”

“Oh, you’re needed.” She sighs. “How long?”

“Not sure. They want me to supervise a cancer study, but they haven’t set a schedule yet.”

“Where do you have to go?”

“Texas. It’s only one time zone away.”

“It’s just so much better when you’re here for me, Santana, and my mother. It’s better with the whole team, you know?”

“I know. You’re doing great, though.”

“Honey, so much as happened to her.”

“This business about the Karofsky kid?”

“Well, yeah, that, and Quinn and…she’s just really confused right now.”

“Confused how?”

“Honey, daughters don’t talk to their mothers the way they talk to their dads.”

“You need her to tell you something, you ask her. She’ll tell you the truth.”

She sighs. “I gotta finish.” She gets up from the couch and grabs the vacuum cleaner.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Back at the hospital, Kurt and Santana have left and Mercedes is asleep. But she wakes up startled when she feels someone in the room with her.

“Oh, my God, Rachel.”

“I have a gift basket. Can I come in?”

“Heh, yeah. Come in.”

“Oh, that cast. That’s…that’s, like, for a broken leg. That won’t keep you from wearing your patent leather high-top sneakers, will it?”

Mercedes giggles. “Just for a little bit.”

“Mercedes I am so sorry.”

“For what? This isn’t your fault.”

“I know, but I gave you such a hard time this school year. I wasn’t being a team player and bringing all that negative energy into glee club has resulted in some terrible karma. And I’m sorry for accusing you of taking Kurt away from me. You know I don’t have a lot of friends so, it felt like I was losing my whole world.”

“Apology accepted.”

“Can we go back to being ‘sort of friends’?”

Mercedes smiles. “The past is forgotten.” Rachel stares at her. “What?”

“You just look sort of vague.”

“Oh, um…I don’t have any makeup on.”

Rachel smiles big. “I can fix that.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that.”

“Just trust me.” She sits down on the bed and pulls out some makeup. “Do you remember that time you threw up on the trampoline at recess in 5th grade? You did that backflip and you barfed?”

Mercedes laughs. “Trust me, I remember.”

“Well, the thing I remember was your dismount. You knew everybody was staring at you. You got to the edge, climbed down, and looked at us. You wiped your mouth, and then you took a bow.” She laughs. “I was in awe.”

Mercedes scoffs. “Of me hurling on the trampoline?”

“No, of that bow. I mean, it was like this incredible life lesson. That’s when I knew you were the bravest person I know.”

“Wow, I never knew that.”

“Because I never told you. Ah. Concealer. A true miracle.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Kurt and Santana are in Kurt’s room hanging out.

“I don’t understand how you can run over a person and just drive away,” says Santana.

“Q has no feelings, no remorse. All they want is for everyone to be miserable,” replies Kurt.

“But all we did is keep some secrets. It’s not like we’re committing murder.”

“To them, that is murder.” Kurt’s phone vibrates and it’s a message from Q. _Try to figure this one out. “You’re looking for me in all the wrong places.”- Q_

“What?” Santana asks, all sorts of confused.

“Why does Mercedes have to be in the hospital?” Kurt asks himself.

“If we’re looking in the wrong places, what’s the right place?”

A light bulb goes off in Kurt’s head. “The ‘Wright’ place!”

Santana gives him a look.

“The playground!”

“Oh, my God, you’re a genius!”

They both spring up from Kurt’s bed and race to his car.

…..

After driving for ten minutes they arrive at Wright’s Playground.

“So, what exactly are we looking for?” asks Santana.

“You’re guess is as good as mine,” replies Kurt.

“I mean, I know we played here like every day after school, but nothing significant happened here.”

“We always did make a beeline for our ‘special tree’. The one where the four of us could sit and talk and block anyone else out.” Another light bulb goes off. “Maybe that’s where we need to go.”

“Come on!”

They run to the tree and start looking around it until Santana finds a carving in it.

“Kurt! Look!”

“Quinn hearts Bryce?”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“You know what it means. Take a picture of it. We need to go back to the hospital and tell Mercedes.”

Santana takes a picture of the carving and they run back to Kurt’s car.


	2. Homicidal and Nuts

* * *

“Are you sure about what you saw on the tree?” asks Mercedes.

“We both saw it, ‘Cedes,” says Santana. “And we took a picture of it.” She pulls out her phone and shows Mercedes the picture.

“Do you think that maybe Quinn just put it up there to see what it might look like?” asks Mercedes.

“No, Quinn may have done some psycho things, but she would never do anything tacky. Anyway, Bryce was with Melissa last night, so he couldn’t be Q,” says Kurt.

“Which brings us back to Sean. He had means. He had opportunity. Those pictures of me and Dani were stolen at Nick’s party,” says Santana.

“Yeah, I know,” says Kurt.

“And I saw him write that message on the back of Mr. Anderson’s car,” says Mercedes.

“Uh, okay, just slow down. Heh. You guys flipped over to Sean awful fast. Just 12 hours ago, you were sure it was Karofsky. What happened to that theory?” asks Kurt.

“Q or not you still need to know what Sean saw, and what he plans to do about it,” says Mercedes.

The nurse knocks on the door and walks in. “I’m sorry, visiting hours were over half an hour ago. You can come by in the morning.”

“We’ll talk later ‘Cedes,” says Santana and her and Kurt leave her room.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The next afternoon, Mercedes wakes up to her sister sitting at her bedside, reading a magazine.

“Hey. You all right?” asks Melissa.

“Yeah. They adjusted my meds. I’m just getting used to them,” says Mercedes.

Melissa looks over at a bouquet on the table. “Who sent the orchids?”

Mercedes smiles. “Sam brought them this morning.”

“Very nice. So, I actually had a good time with Bryce.”

Mercedes smirks. “I’ll call TMZ.”

“The night of your accident…he was still over.”

Mercedes sits up in her bed. “He stayed the night?”

“It’s not like we’re strangers. We went out for two years, and we had a lot to talk about. You know, I was thinking about what you said the other day. About being tired. You and I hating each other has become a lot of work.”

Mercedes giggles. “I didn’t know we hated each other. I just…I thought we didn’t like each other.”

Melissa sighs. “You saw the news about Quinn and Karofsky, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Quinn fooled us all, didn’t she? I remember her constantly trashing that kid and the whole time, she was seeing him.”

“Well, Quinn played a lot of games, Melissa.”

“It’s probably what got her killed.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

At school, Sean sees Kurt at his locker and goes over to him. “You didn’t call.”

“I’m sorry. It got late.”

“What’s the word on Mercedes?”

“She’s better.”

“That’s great. They catch the guy that, did it?”

“Not yet. The police are talking to everyone who was there to see if, you know, anyone saw anything. Did you see anything?”

“I told you I was with my parents and Nick. But, I saw you going off beforehand so I followed you. Followed you to _his_ car,” Sean says with a sneer.

“You wrote on the window.”

“I should’ve thrown a rock.”

“What did you see?”

“Enough to figure out why you act so squirrelly around him.” Sean gets closer to Kurt. “What did he promise you to get in that car? I’ll go to Figgins with you.”

Kurt’s eyes get wide. “Figgins?”

“Take this guy down for what he made you do.”

“No!”

“They could put him in jail.”

“Sean, stop! It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like?”

“If you care about me at all, please don’t say anything to anyone. Just let me handle it. Promise me.”

The bell rings.

“I have to go.” Sean starts walking away.

“Sean, please. Promise me.”

Sean sighs. “All right. I promise.” He continues walking away.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

At the hospital, Mercedes wakes up from a nap and she sees Quinn. She can’t tell if she’s hallucinating from all the drugs or if she’s really there.

“Did you miss me?” asks Quinn.

“Quinn. They said you were dead.”

“Yeah, I heard that too, but here I am.”

“What happened to you?”

“It’s complicated, Mercedes. Really complicated. Worse than Geometry with Mr. Clippenger.”

“What happened when you left the barn? We all wanna know.”

“You already do. The three of you combined. You remember more about that night than you think you do.”

A door closes down the hall.

“Where’d you go? To meet a boy? Sean?”

Quinn scoffs. “Sean? Please.”

“Please, just tell me the truth.”

“It won’t make any difference, darling.”

“How can you say that?”

“Because I know. You think the truth is some big shiny disco ball of purity? Then go ahead and try it. Be honest. See what it gets you. Telling the truth to the wrong person is how I ended up where I am. Take it from me you’re always better off with a really good lie.” She checks her watch. “Gotta go.”

“Where?

“I was so scared that you were gonna die. That’s why I came back. I didn’t care how dangerous it was, I had to see you. You know, I really should do something about Q. That bitch is genuinely getting on my nerves.” She walks out the door and looks at Mercedes one last time and continues walking down the hall. 

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Kurt’s sitting in Blaine’s classroom waiting for him to show up. Finally, Blaine walks in.

“Hey, I was gonna look for you,” says Blaine.

Kurt clears his throat. “I think we need to talk.”

“Yeah. Uh…I’m sorry about the car situation. Common sense kicked in in about third period. You’re right. Somebody probably just doesn’t like the way I park.”

“You’re right about there being other people. We have to be really careful.”

“I’ve been careful. Remember, careful made you unhappy.”

“You don’t make me unhappy.” Blaine gives him a look. “I mean, you totally mess me up and I feel miserable sometimes, but you don’t make me unhappy. And I wasn’t unhappy the other night.”

“But?

“But would you go back if you could? If you knew that it would be this complicated would you have even talked to me that morning at the Lima Bean?”

“I’ve thought about it. If I hadn’t said anything to you we’d have no problems. You’d be a gorgeous boy that sits one row from the windows and I’d be the new teacher. All neat and tidy.”

Kurt laughs nervously. “Is that what you want? To go back?”

“No,” Blaine answers quickly.

“Me neither.”

“So, we don’t go back.” He grabs Kurt’s hand. “We go forward. Together.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After his talk with Blaine, Kurt meets up with Santana at her locker.

“Did you tell Mr. Anderson about Sean?” asks Santana.

“His name’s Blaine,” replies Kurt.

“Maybe _you_ get to call that fine man Blaine. He’s still Mr. Anderson to us. Did you tell him?”

Kurt sighs. “No, I couldn’t.”

“Kurt…”

“Well, how could I?”

“Well, what about you and Sean?”

“There isn’t a ‘me and Sean.’ There never really was.”

“Does _he_ know that?”

“I think he does.”

“You _think_ he does.”

“Yeah, I just don’t know how hard to push him. But I know that It’s a one-way street so once I say something to anybody, I can’t take it back.”

“I know what you mean.”

Santana closes her locker and they walk to glee club.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Sam walks into Mercedes’ room with a tray of pudding cups. “Pudding-cup-alooza. Vanilla? Tapioca? Butterscotch?”

“Uh, vanilla. I’m a simple gal.”

He looks at her cast and whistles. “That’s starting to look like the Declaration of Independence.”

“You know, Sam, you don’t have to keep skipping school. I don’t want you get in trouble.”

He hands her the pudding and sits down on the bed. “I’m okay. I told office I was doing community service.”

“They believed you?”

“I have a very believable face. I plan to use it in politics.”

Mercedes giggles. “Well, you’re a good boyfriend.”

“Thank you.” He leans in and gives her a kiss.

“Yeah, um, I have to ask you something. They have me on all kinds of drugs and things and sometimes things can be a little…I don’t know, um…”

“The medical term for what you’re looking for is loopy.”

“Right, loopy. I mean, I have, like, _Twilight Zone_ moments. Funny dreams, just unexpected stuff. And it can be confusing. Did I just see that? Was that person here? Did I imagine that whole thing just happened? Did Sam sneak in and kiss me?”

Sam starts to blush. “You caught me, huh?”

“At first I thought it didn’t happen, but you just admitted it.”

Sam sighs. “I know I shouldn’t have done that without your consent, but I was terrified about your accident. I know didn’t if you were gonna wake up or not, but you did.”

She smiles at him.

He laughs shakily. “I guess it was my way of thanking you for not dying.”

She leans in and kisses him. “You really are the best boyfriend ever.”

“As long as you’re the best girlfriend ever.”

She laughs at him. “Deal.”

“Good. Now eat your pudding before I eat it.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After school, Santana is sitting on her bed, on the phone. “I don’t know, Dani. I mean, with Mercedes in the hospital, everything’s on hold. Yeah. I miss you too. Maybe tomorrow?” She chuckles and looks up to see her dad in the doorway. “I gotta go. Right, bye.”

“Was that Mercedes?”

“No. My friend Dani. Does Mom need help with dinner?”

“No, not yet.”

“Okay.”

He walks in and sits on her desk chair. “Do you remember Dennis Small?”

“Yeah.”

“He told me that he heard you’ve been calling the station. That you’re trying to visit this David Karofsky. Do you wanna tell me why you’re trying to talk to this boy?”

“I want him to know that it wasn’t Kurt who told the police where to find him.”

“Has he threatened you and your friends in any way?”

“No.”

“What is it? Your mother thinks you’re keeping some secret. You've been jumpy around me. I thought it was because I hadn’t been around, but that’s not it. Something’s eating you.”

“It’s like you said, I’m just a little jumpy.”

“You tell me who’s giving you a hard time, and I will take care of it.”

“It’s not like that.”

“If you need help, you ask for it. There’s nothing to be ashamed about.”

“Dad…I’m gonna talk to Karofsky. I’m gonna put an end to it. I’m not afraid of him.”

“You’re afraid of something. I can see it in your eyes.”

“I’m afraid of you…and Mom… and Abuela.”

“Why are you afraid of us?”

“Because I’m not who you think I am.”

He laughs. “You’re Santana, my little girl. I’d know you anywhere.”

She takes a breath. “Daddy, I love girls the way that I’m supposed to feel about boys. It’s just something that's always been inside of me, and I really want to share it with you because I love you so much. I want you to know me. Who I really am. When I’m with Dani I finally understand, what people are talking about when they talk about love. I’ve tried so hard to push this feeling away, and keep it locked inside, but every day just feels like a war. I walk around so mad at the world, but I’m really just fighting with myself. I don’t want to fight anymore. I’m just too tired. I have to just be me.”

He grabs her hand. “Tana…”

…..

A little while later, Santana’s parents and her grandmother are talking about her coming out while Santana listens from the stairs.

“This isn’t something she came up with. It’s that girl from California. Dani,” says Alma.

“Before we start talking about other people, let’s just talk about Santana,” says Wayne.

“Why didn’t she tell us?” asks Maribel.

“She was afraid,” answers Wayne.

“Of me?” asks Alma.

“Of all of us,” clarifies Wayne.

“She’s not afraid of us. You wanna know what she’s afraid of?” Alma pulls out the pictures that Santana and Dani took at the party. “This is what she’s afraid of.”

“Where’d you get these, Mami?” asks Maribel.

“Somebody mailed it. Someone who wanted us to know,” answers Abuela.

“You had this and didn’t tell us?” asks Wayne.

“When? When we finally had a family breakfast together in in eight months? How am I supposed to introduce that into conversation?” says Alma. “How are we gonna fix this?”

“Fix it? This is not like buying her braces. This is who she is,” says Maribel.

“That’s not who she is. This is what someone else is making her into,” says Alma.

“Maybe she’s just experimenting,” says Wayne.

“It’s selfish of her to make us uncomfortable. The sin isn’t in the thing, it’s in the scandal, when people talk about it aloud,” says Alma.

“So, you’re saying it would’ve been better if she would’ve kept this a secret?” asks Maribel.

“Let’s just keep this in perspective,” says Wayne.

“And what is your perspective?” asks Alma.

“She is struggling with this. I can see it,” says Wayne.

“And I can’t?” asks Alma.

“That’s not what we’re saying, Mami,” says Maribel.

“Then what are you saying? Are you willing to just turn away from everything we ever wanted for her? Let her ruin her life so she can experiment?” asks Alma.

“She is alive and healthy. After everything I’ve seen alive and healthy counts for a lot, believe me,” says Wayne.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The friends are in Mercedes’ hospital room catching up.

“You told them?” asks Kurt.

“Yeah,” answers Santana.

“How was that?” asks Mercedes.

“Rough,” answers Santana.

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay, Tana,” says Mercedes.

“I don’t know what it’s gonna be, but it’s gonna be different,” says Santana.

Mercedes sighs and turns her attention to Kurt. “So, the whole tree?”

“Yeah, when I went back to see if I could find anything else, all there was left is the stump,” answers Kurt.

“Why? Why show something like that and then just take it away?” asks Mercedes.

“Like Q had a split personality,” says Kurt.

“That’s great. Homicidal and nuts,” says Santana.

“I’ve been thinking maybe we’re dealing with more than one person,” offers Kurt.

“Q and Quinn’s killer are two separate people? You are freaking out the invalid,” says Mercedes.

“No, think about it,” says Kurt.

“No, you think about it. Aren’t we in enough trouble? I know I am. Just look at me,” says Mercedes.

Kurt uncovers Mercedes leg and sees a haunting message written on her cast. “'Cedes, who wrote this?” 

“I don’t know. People have been in and out all day, and so have I,” answers Mercedes.

“Oh, shit,” says Santana.

“What? What? What’s on there?” asks Mercedes, sitting up in bed.

“'Sorry about losing my temper. My bad. Love, Q,’” reads Kurt.

“Who put that on my leg?!” yells Mercedes.

“Did somebody come in here while you were asleep?” asks Santana.

“I don’t know. Just get it off. Just wipe it off! Get it off me!” yells Mercedes as she starts hyperventilating in her bed.


	3. Hilton Head and Golf Clubs

* * *

Mercedes is finally home from the hospital, but she’s on bed rest for a few more days before she can go back to school. Right now, she’s adjusting the sticker she got to cover up the message from Q.

“Why are you taking that off?” asks Santana.

“I’m not. I’m trying to keep it on. I don’t wanna see the autograph under it,” says Mercedes begrudgingly.

“We can get you another sticker,” offers Kurt. “Why don’t you try something mellower, like ‘save the planet’?”

“There weren’t a lot of choices, okay? It was either Humpty Dumpty or ‘Jesus is coming, look busy,’” Mercedes replies, she lifts up the sticker. “Oh, God, it’s still there.”

Kurt crouches next to her. “Mercy, Mercy, don’t, okay? Don’t look at that. Just look around. You’re safe, your home and you’re alive. And you have killer wheelchair skills since Mr. Shue made us perform ‘Proud Mary’.”

Mercedes chuckles. “Your right. Okay, what’s going on with Sean? Is he Q? Have you talked to him?”

“No, I avoid him. I keep telling him I’m busy. Busy freaking out every time I look at him,” replies Kurt.

“Yeah, well, try being run over by him,” Mercedes replies.

Santana picks up a gift. “Who got you this panda? Sam?”

Mercedes scoffs. “Nick.”

“That’s sweet,” Santana says sarcastically.

Mercedes sighs. “Anyone else starving or is it just me?”

Mercedes’ parents come in with the rest of her things. “We have a special dinner tonight sweetheart,” says Veronica.

“Yeah, Melissa and Bryce said they have something important to tell us,” says Peter.

“In that case, we’ll get out your hair,” says Kurt.

“Thank you, guys,” says Mercedes.

“No problem, Wheezy,” says Santana.

“We’ll come by tomorrow,” says Kurt. He and Santana walk to the front door and close it behind them.

“Okay, let’s get you to the couch, honey,” says Peter.

…..

A few hours later, they’re getting the table set for dinner. Veronica goes to the fridge and pulls out bottles of champagne.

Bryce goes over to Veronica and takes them from her. “Oh, you found my stash. Should be cold enough, right?”

“Yes,” replies Veronica.

Bryce sighs. “Great timing.”

Everyone takes their seat at the table.

“We’d like to know what we’re celebrating, Bryce,” says Peter.

“Well, for one, Mercedes’ recovery and homecoming.”

“Thanks Bryce,” says Mercedes.

“And for two?” asks Veronica.

“We’re married!” says Melissa excitedly. She shows the ring to them and her and Bryce laugh excitedly.

“You’re what?” questions Peter.

“We eloped,” explains Melissa.

“Yeah, it’s incredible. It’s like last year never happened,” adds Bryce with a huge smile.

“Um…congratulations,” says Mercedes.

“Is that where you guys were all yesterday?” asks Veronica.

“Yeah!” says Melissa. She turns to Mercedes. “And I have you to thank.”

“Me?”

“Yes! You encouraged me to have coffee with him. And when you had your accident, it made us realize that we don’t anything holding us back. We want to live life the way we want to.” She turns to Peter and Veronica. “This is what I want.”

Mercedes looks at her parents and see the disappointment on their faces. This was going to be the longest dinner of her life.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The next morning at the Lopez house, you can just feel the awkward as they all sit hearing only their forks hitting the plates.

“I like these sausages. Are they chicken?” asks Wayne as he tries to break the silence.

“No, they’re turkey,” replies Maribel.

“So, does your friend have any allergies?” asks Alma.

“What?” asks Santana.

“Is there anything I should know about what Dani eats?” asks Alma.

“No. She eats everything,” answers Santana.

Alma excuses herself from the table and starts collecting some dishes and heads into the kitchen.

“Guys, I know I asked for it, but if Abuela can’t handle this dinner tonight, I’ll tell Dani…” starts Santana.

“We’re looking forward to it. Your Abuela was up all night preparing the menu,” says Maribel.

“You don’t think she’ll try and poison her, do you?” asks Santana.

Wayne chuckles. “Your Abuela? It’s not her style. She kills with kindness.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Mercedes and Veronica are in town buying coffee so Mercedes can get a little fresh air for the day.

Veronica’s on the phone with Peter while pushing Mercedes’ chair. “No, honey, leave the boxes there for now. Do not call her. It’s their honeymoon. Okay. Bye.”

“What’s going on?” asks Mercedes.

“Bryce had all his boxes delivered this morning from his storage unit.”

“It couldn’t wait till they got back?”

“I’m guessing he and Melissa probably wanna get a jumpstart on settling in. Why are you so shocked?”

“Because you’re not. You and Dad are acting as if you’re okay with this whole elopement thing. You don’t think this was rushed?”

“Of course, it’s rushed. It’s outrageous. I’m not dancing a jig over it, but what’s done is done. And a long engagement doesn’t guarantee wedded bliss. Oh, honey, would you hold these? I’m buzzing.” She hands Mercedes the coffees and grabs her phone from her purse. She then starts pushing Mercedes' chair. “Oh, speak of the devil.”

“Bryce?”

“Mm. Melissa. Another picture. The honeymooners.” She shows the phone to Mercedes.

“Where are they? Looks like that mall near Dad’s office.”

“Well, I guess when you’re in love, you can be anywhere.”

“You don’t think it’s weird? Melissa trading in her princess gown and pink champagne for a food court Slurpee?”

“Mercedes, you were a big part of your sister’s rough year. Maybe you could just be happy for her.”

Mercedes looks across the street and sees Karofsky getting out of a car. “Why is he out of jail?”

“He’s out on bail. He’s probably meeting with his attorney. Staring at him won’t make him disappear. Come on, let’s go home.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Kurt and Santana are walking into school.

“Okay we’ll give Mercedes her books before you have to go get ready for your special dinner.”

“Yep,” says Santana.

“Speaking of special dinners. Hi, Dani,” greets Kurt.

“Hey,” greets Dani.

“Are you still coming for dinner tonight?” asks Santana.

“Sure, if your folks still want me to. What should I wear?” asks Dani.

“Anything. Doesn’t matter. A dress,” answers Santana.

“A dress? Heh. Seriously?” scoffs Dani. “Is this some sort of formal thingy? Or are you just worried my jeans are too butch?”

“Don’t say things like that, please, okay? My Abuela she’s not…she won’t laugh.”

“Well, I’ll, uh, see you guys later, so, have fun tonight. But FYI, if you decide to wear jeans, iron them.” Kurt walks away from them and sees Sean walking into school.

Sean sees him too and smiles and waves at him while Kurt nervously waves back.

“Tana? Are you still into this dinner?” asks Dani.

“Of course. I just…they all have been acting strange since I told them about me. Us,” explains Santana.

“Define strange.”

“Whispering, closing doors, changing the channel when _Ellen_ comes on.”

They start walking into school.

“Got it. I will wear the most girly dress I own. I’ll tell them I sewed it myself.” Dani laughs to herself.

“Dani, this isn’t a joke. You’re the first girl I’ve ever told them about.”

The bell rings.

“I gotta go,” says Santana.

…..

Santana and Kurt are in English class while Blaine is lecturing about their new book.

Blaine walks down the aisles of the room and hands back papers. “Gatsby was more than just a pretty face. He was ambitious, ruthless, charming. And the themes of change and loss are central to both novels. Did everybody get their papers back?”

The bell rings.

“Perfect. See you Wednesday. Oh, chapters one through four. No study guides, please. Read the man, not the blogger.”

Santana starts to wait for Kurt.

“You go ahead. I’ll get Mercedes’ assignment and meet up with you.”

She gives him knowing look and leaves the room.

Kurt turns his attention to Blaine. “I know who wrote that message on your car. It was Sean Simmons. He admitted it was stupid. He was just angry and jealous.”

“Yeah, I get why he did it. Who else knows?”

“Nobody. Nobody else knows. Look, and he’s not gonna tell anyone.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I think he may have known about us for a while now. If he was trying to hurt us, he would have said something a long time ago. Okay, he promised he’d just forget what he saw.”

“Look, let’s not talk about this here.”

Kurt walks closer to Blaine. “Can I come to your place later?”

…..

“Hey Puck. I need some advice,” says Santana when she sees him in the hall.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Okay, I’m just gonna tell you. I’m gay.”

Puck has a neutral face. “And?”

“You’re not surprised?”

“No. I always kinda figured. Especially that one night you, me, and Brittany spent together. You spent more time with her than you did with me.”

Santana smiles. “Yeah, that was a good night. But anyway, I’m having Dani over for dinner to meet my family.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“I’m just scared something’s gonna go horribly wrong and my grandma will say I told you so.”

“Well remember the first time I met them. Scariest shit of my life. But I survived, right?”

“Yeah. I’m just not sure I wanna be there.”

“It’ll be fine. Just make sure Dani doesn’t do all the talking. If she starts going over a cliff, you grab the wheel.”

“Thanks, Puck.”

“No problem. And I wanted to apologize for what I did to you in the locker room. Totally not cool.”

“It’s fine. Forget it ever happened. I have.” She pats his shoulder and walks away to find Brittany.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Blaine’s in his classroom grading papers when he hears a knock on the door.

“Mr. Anderson? Got a second?”

“Uh, sure. What’s up, Sean?”

Sean walks over to Blaine’s desk. “Wanted to talk to you about something. These comments on my paper. Pretty harsh.”

“Oh, I wasn’t trying to be.”

“I worked really hard on this.”

“I’m sure you did, but you clearly hadn’t read all of the material.”

“I think I know enough to get a better grade than this.” Sean tries to give Blaine his paper with a C on it.

Blaine gets up from his desk. “What are you asking me to do, Mr. Simmons? Change the grade? Because that’s not gonna happen.”

“Mr. Anderson, you don’t want me to bring Figgins into this, do you? Take another read. You may have second thoughts. I think it deserves this…” He takes Blaine’s pen and writes an “A” top of the paper. Then, he leaves with a smug look on his face.

…..

A little while later, Kurt comes to his room while Blaine’s staring out the window.

“Hey, there. I forgot to tell you that I was gonna run Mercedes’ homework over to her, so I’m thinking um, I’ll just go there first and then…”

“You’re not coming over,” says Blaine.

“Why? What happened?”

“I had a visit from your friend Sean. Turns out he’s not too good at keeping promises.” Blaine lowers his voice. “In fact, he’s not at _all_ who you think he is.”

“Did he say something to you?” Kurt grabs his hand. “Blaine. Hey. Tell me what happened. Maybe I can fix it.”

Finn knocks on the door. “Mr. Anderson?

“What can I do for you, Finn?”

“Mrs. Mazarra said you need to sign my absence card from Friday,” he says holding out the card.

“Sure. Let me…let me get a pen.” He signs it. “Here you go.”

“Thank you. Sorry to interrupt.” 

“It’s no problem, Finn,” says Kurt. “I’ll see you at home?”

“Yeah.” And he awkwardly leaves the room.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The dinner with Dani and Santana’s family is going as well as it can go at this point.

“So where in Texas will you be staying?” asks Dani.

“Austin. But I’m not leaving just yet,” answers Wayne.

“Here you go,” offers Alma with a plate of shrimp tacos.

“Oh, um, no, thank you. I don’t eat seafood,” says Dani when she sees what’s on the plate.

Alma looks at her shocked.

“I-It’s not a moral thing. I get hives,” she clarifies.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Santana said that you could eat anything, so…”

“I forgot. Sorry,” says Santana.

“It’s okay. Um…I’m really sorry,” says Dani.

“It’s all right. It’s fine,” says Alma, clearly upset.

“So, um, are both your folks from California, Dani?” asks Maribel.

“Yeah. They met at Berkeley at a ‘No Nukes’ rally. After my brother and I came along, they got married and we moved to San Jose,” answers Dani.

“You were already here when your parents got married?” asks Alma incredulously.

“I was the flower girl. Heh. I guess they wanted to make sure it was real before they tied the knot,” says Dani.

“Two children weren’t real enough?” asks Alma condescendingly.

“Um, tell the story of how your dad asked your mom,” offers Santana.

Dani giggles. “So, my dad’s this raging, crazy romantic. He proposed to my mom with a Sharpie. Oh, he didn’t have a ring, so he drew one on her finger with a felt pen.”

Maribel laughs. “Very clever placeholder.”

“No, that’s the only one she’s ever had. Once the ink wore off, she retraced it with a tattoo,” says Dani.

“Wow. See, now, why didn’t I think of that?” says Wayne.

“Excuse me while I check on the roast,” says Alma.

Wayne turns to Maribel. “Honey, be careful. Our anniversary is coming up. I’m gonna invest in some felt-tip markers.”

They all laugh, except for Alma. When she gets up, she sees Santana and Dani playing footsie underneath the table. She hastily walks to the kitchen and starts sobbing quietly as she leans up against the stove.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Mercedes is on the couch working on the homework that Kurt and Santana brought over. She’s trying to focus, but she keeps thinking about Sean. Did Quinn torment him in anyway? Most likely, she tormented everyone.

**Flashback**

The friends are a party that Sean is throwing and he has some girl sitting on his lap looking at her phone. “That’s it, Sean, we’re over!” She gets up and storms away.

“What?” He looks over and sees Quinn looking satisfied. “Happy now?” He walks away pissed.

“What just happened?” asks Kurt.

“I just put Sean Simmons back on the market,” answers Quinn.

“How?” asks Mercedes.

“You broke them up?” asks Santana.

“ _We_ broke them up. Aren’t you still crushing on him, Kurt?” says Quinn.

“Uh, what did _we_ do, Quinn?” asks Mercedes.

Quinn sighs. “Why are you guys pissed? I did it for Kurt. I only kill when we need food.” She giggles. “Or when I’m bored." 

**End of Flashback**

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After the dinner, Santana walks Dani out onto the porch.

“Did I embarrass you?” asks Dani. “Sorry about the shrimp thing. Had I eaten that, I would’ve blown up.”

“Stop. They really liked you. Dad was definitely hooked and Mom loved the dress.”

“Just wait till your grandma sees the crease in my jeans.”

They both giggle.

“So, still wanna hang at your place, tonight?” asks Santana.

“Would it be okay if I bailed on that? I’m exhausted. I didn’t sleep last night. I was way too nervous.”

“About dinner? When we talked at school, you were…”

“One of us had to hold it together. You were one buckle short of a straitjacket.”

Santana giggles and leans in to kiss her.

Alma walks out on the porch and catches them. She laughs nervously. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted to make sure and give Dani something to take to her folks.” She holds out Tupperware.

“Oh, that’s so sweet. Thank you.” Dani goes over and hugs her.

“You’re welcome. Enjoy,” says Alma. She goes back inside the house.

Dani turns to Santana. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” replies Santana.

And Dani walks towards her house.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Kurt’s in his room pacing back and forth thinking about calling Sean. He finally decides to and grabs his phone from the table. On the second ring, he picks up.

“You broke your promise. You promised me you’d forget what you saw in Mr. Anderson’s car, but you’re not letting it go.”

“Woah, woah, woah. Back up. What are we talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Okay? And you can’t just blackmail…”

“Blackmail? Is that what he said?”

“You never demanded a better grade?”

“ _I_ didn’t demand anything. I asked him to take a second look at my essay. Haven’t you ever worked hard and thought you deserved better than you got? Wow. If that’s the story he put out, you gotta wonder who this guy is.”

“Sean, is there something else going on here? Is there some grudge you got against me and my friends?”

Sean hears Nick call him back in the other room. “Look I gotta go.” And he hangs up the phone.

Kurt looks at his phone in shock.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Santana walks back in from the porch and sees Alma cleaning up by herself. “Are my parents asleep?”

“When you were on the porch, your dad got a phone call. His boss wants him in Texas by the end of the month.”

“This month? Why? We just got him back from his night shifts.”

“I know, Mija. It’s not his decision. There’s just a bigger picture.”

“Tonight meant a lot to me, Abuela. Thank you. Dani had a great time.”

“Your parents think she’s very sweet.”

“She is. And I’m glad you’re okay with it.”

She stops cleaning. “I’m not okay with it. The whole thing makes me sick. Sick to my stomach.” She puts her hand over her mouth like she’s going to start crying again and walks upstairs.

Santana stands at the bottom of the staircase holding back tears.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Peter walks down the stairs with a coffee mug in hand.

“Hey, Daddy,” says Mercedes.

“Hey. Forgot you were down here sweetheart. I’m so used to you being in your room. Would’ve watched the game down here. Your mother makes me watch it on mute.”

Mercedes sighs. “He’s got a lot of stuff, Bryce.”

“Heh. Yeah. Suddenly he’s everywhere, isn’t he? Well, maybe it’ll inspire your sister to finish that condo so they can move in.”

“Dad, they might never move out of here. Melissa loves the barn.”

“Yeah, well, Melissa’s always needed a little nudge every once in a while. That’s why your mother thinks Bryce is good for her. He’s ‘impulsive’ and ‘passionate’.”

“You don’t agree?”

“I have a few other choice words I would reserve for Bryce, but if I start listing them, I’ll never fall asleep.”

Mercedes chuckles.

“Oh, uh…I spoke to a friend of mine on the police force tonight. The bloodstain they found on that sweater at David’s was a positive match. Don’t think that kid will be around much longer to scare you.”

“It’s Quinn’s blood? Does that mean it’s done? They’re not going to investigate anyone else?”

“I thought you’d be relieved. Don’t stay up too late, okay? Good night.” He walks up the stairs.

“Good night.” She turns her attention back over to the luggage and sees a Hilton Head tag on Bryce’s golf bag.

**Flashback**

“My God, I missed you guys so much!” shouts Quinn when she gets out of the cab and hugs everyone.

“Why are you so tanned?” asks Kurt.

“How did you get so sun-kissed sitting in your grandma’s apartment? I thought she was bedridden in a cave,” says Mercedes.

“Doesn’t mean I was. We still on for tonight?” asks Quinn.

“Totally. Mercedes’ mom said we could use their barn,” says Kurt.

“Yeah, but there might be a major storm tonight, so…” starts Mercedes.

“It’s the last blowout before school starts, ‘Cedes. Don’t bring me down,” interrupts Quinn. “Hey, can one of you guys get those? My arms are sore.”

“Yeah,” offers Mercedes.

“Why? Did you have to lift your grandma and bathe her?” asks Santana.

“Yeah, it was really disgusting,” laughs Quinn.

“Did you go to Hilton Head?” asks Mercedes when she sees the tag on her suitcase.

“Oh, yeah. Nana had a day out and she’s really into golf. Don’t ask,” Quinn rushes over. “So, uh, who’s in charge of refreshments?”

“Oh, Tana stole a bottle of tequila,” says Kurt.

“Genius. Good job, Tana. Being a klepto suits you,” says Quinn.

Santana rolls her eyes.

“Isn’t Hilton Head in South Carolina? I thought your grandma lived in Georgia,” says Mercedes.

“It’s still the South, ‘Cedes. Why so many questions?” Quinn sighs and puts her arms around Kurt and Santana. Leaving Mercedes carrying the luggage. “We’ve got a long night ahead of us. I can’t spill every detail the minute I hit the curb. Wait for it…wait for it…wait for it…”


	4. Massive Mercedes

* * *

Mercedes groggily wakes up from the couch when she hears Melissa and Bryce out on the back porch. She tries to listen to what their saying, but they’re whispering. She sees Bryce notice that she’s awake and she immediately puts her head back down on the couch and pretend she’s sleeping. When he sees that, Bryce turns back to Melissa. Mercedes then hears her phone buzz with a message. _Married for love or an Alibi? - Q_

**……**

The next morning, Mercedes walks, no wheelchair needed, out of the downstairs bathroom all ready for school. She goes into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee when Bryce walks in.

“Morning.”

Mercedes jumps in shock.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, you just surprised me. I just didn’t know you were back."

“Yeah, we didn’t-- we didn’t wake you last night? I mean, you didn’t hear us?"

"No. Like I said, I didn’t even know you were back.” She looks around the living room. “So, is this all going in the barn?"

“Have you seen your sister’s wardrobe?” He jokes. “No, the movers are coming on Friday. We’re going to move it to our place in Defiance.” He walks closer to her. “Oh. Listen, Mercy, um…I know our decision to get married was sudden, and…yeah, I get that it’s thrown you, but…you know, we’re family now. I hope you start thinking of me like that.”

She gives him a small smile. “So, how was the honeymoon?”

He goes over to the fridge. “Oh, it was perfect.”

“No golf for the newlyweds?”

He grabs the eggs and a pan. “Well, you know, we spent most of our time indoors.” He turns on the burner.

Mercedes walks over to the golf clubs and points to the tag. “Hey, have you ever golfed here?”

“What, Hilton Head?”

“Yeah. Quinn went to a tournament there with her grandmother.”

He cracks the eggs in the pan. “Really?”

“Uh-huh. She disappeared the night she got home.” Bryce doesn’t say anything. “Is it a nice course?”

“Uh, yeah, from what I remember, but it was years ago.”

Mercedes hears honking. “I gotta go.” She grabs her bag.

“Be careful at school today. And call if anything goes wrong?”

“Thanks.” She walks out of the door. 

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Kurt is downstairs in the kitchen reading Vogue and sipping on his coffee when Finn walks in.

“Hey bro.”

“Morning Finn.”

“So, how’s Mercedes doing?”

“Better. She’ll be back in school today.”

“Good. We need her. Don’t tell Rachel I said this, but I voted for Mercedes. I think she really deserved to be captain this year. I don’t know if anyone could take it if we were co-captains again.”

Kurt smiles. “Your secret’s safe with me Finn.”

“So, is there anything going on with you?”

“What do you mean Finn?”

“Everything okay with Sean?”

“More or less. Why?”

Finn shrugs. “No reason. Just making sure my little brother is being treated with respect.”

Kurt smiles. “Don’t worry Finn. If a guy was ever not treating me right, you would be the first person I’d call.” He checks the clock. “I gotta go. I promised I’d meet Mercedes and Santana at the Lima Bean.” He puts his cup in the sink and grabs his bag. “See you at school.”

“See ya.” Finn looks after Kurt with a worried look on his face.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

At the Lima Bean; Mercedes, Kurt, and Santana are sitting at table and Mercedes is on the phone with Hilton Head.

“Hi. I’m plannin’ a surprise visit for my husband, and he cannot stop talkin’ about the room he had on his last visit. Can you pull up that reservation? His name is Bryce Thomas,” says Mercedes in a southern accent.

“Why are you doing this?” asks Santana.

Mercedes covers the receiver. “I think Bryce and Quinn were together the weekend before she disappeared. Do you remember how Quinn was acting when she got home from visiting her grandmother? All giggles and tan? Yeah. Quinn hated old people, and her grandmother lives in Georgia. Hilton head is in South Carolina. She was lying to us.”

“So, what?” asks Santana.

“Quinn lied more than she breathed. You think that was enough to make Bryce want to permanently shut her up?” asks Kurt.

“Wow. I thought you’d be happy to hear it was anybody, but Karofsky,” says Mercedes.

“All David wanted was for me to believe him, and I didn’t,” answers Kurt.

“Karofsky lied about a lot of things too, Kurt,” says Mercedes.

“If lying was a crime, we would all be in jail,” says Kurt. He sees Agent Cooper walking toward them. “Agent Cooper. Good morning.”

“Hi. Beautiful day, huh?”

“Thank you,” says Mercedes into the receiver.

“The food in this town is to die for. I’m missing it already,” says Agent Cooper.

“Are you going somewhere?” asks Kurt.

“Came here to find the person that killed your friend. David Karofsky may be out on bail, but he’s not leaving town, and we have a solid case against him. So, unless you have a reason for me to stay…”

“Well, I guess we’ll see you around, then,” says Santana.

“You kids take care.” She walks away from the group.

“Bye,” says Santana. She turns to Mercedes. “What?”

“Bryce was at Hilton Head the same weekend Quinn was.”

“Maybe we do have a reason for Cooper to stay,” says Kurt.

“Agent Cooper is not some small-town cop that’s going to arrest Mercedes’ brother-in-law because Quinn carved his name into a tree,” says Santana.

“Yeah, a tree that’s no longer there,” says Mercedes.

“No one knows that but us,” says Santana.

“And Bryce,” says Kurt.

“And Q,” says Mercedes.

**……**

They walk to school and see Sean hanging out with Nick and some of the guys from the football team in front of the school.

“Sean led us to that tree for a reason,” says Mercedes when they pass the group.

“Is Q…I mean, is Sean trying to help us find Quinn’s killer?” asks Kurt.

“Q helping us? Wow, that’s a first,” says Santana sarcastically.

“How could Sean even know about Bryce and Quinn?” asks Mercedes.

“Have you ever noticed how Sean is always around?” Kurt turns around and sees Finn talking to Sean.

“Are they friends?” asks Santana.

“Not that I know of.”

“Santana’s right about Agent Cooper. We need to find proof,” says Mercedes.

“Thank you, Nancy Drew,” says Santana sarcastically.

“That proof may be boxed in your kitchen,” says Kurt.

Dani walks over to them. “Hi.”

“Hey.” Santana kisses her hello.

“Are we still on for later? You know, now that your dad’s gone?”

“Yeah, my Abuela knows how my parents feel about us.”

“In other words, she’ll tolerate me.”

“Her and my mom are spending the day in the city, so you’ll be safe, I promise.”

“What’s later?” asks Mercedes.

“Um, studying,” says Santana bashfully.

“Is that girl-on-girl code for romance?” asks Mercedes.

“No, we’re actually studying,” answers Dani. “But your friend is a romantic.”

“Is she?” asks Kurt.

“Oh, yeah. Um…walks in the rain, picnics by the lake, dancing naked in candlelight.” Dani starts laughing. “I’m just kidding. We go to dinner and a movie, just like you guys. Well, I’m not entirely kidding. Santana would love to do all of those things.”

Santana pulls her away. “Okay, you’ve shared enough.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Sean walks into Blaine’s classroom. “Nice vest. This is your teacher look, right? I’m an observant guy. I see things other people may not notice.”

“Your point is?” asks Blaine.

“Kurt told me that you might have misunderstood our previous conversation, about my disappointing grade. It’s sweet how close you two are.”

“What do you want?”

“I want to make this easy for you.” Sean hands him a paper. “This is a brand-new paper, and, trust me, it’s worthy of an A.”

Blaine looks at it. “Yeah, this is the same essay. You just reprinted it.”

“Well, last time we talked, I wanted the A. This time I need it, or I don’t get to suit up for Friday’s game.”

Blaine sighs.

“It’s a few strokes of a pen. Why is it so hard for you?”

“If you have to ask the question, Mr. Simmons, you wouldn’t understand my answer.”

A guy from the soccer team sits down at a desk. “What are you doing here, Simmons?”

“I was looking for Kurt Hummel. He’s got first period here, right?”

“Yeah. So, are you two still hooking up?”

Sean shrugs. “On and off, but the thing about Kurt is, he’s way into older guys.”

“Give me the paper. I can re-read it today.”

Sean hands him the paper. “I knew you’d do the right thing.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Mercedes opens her locker and sees a message from Q on a post-it on the inside. YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN QUINN AND BRYCE? GO TO 21 MAIN ST. ASK FOR 'MASSIVE MERCEDES’ ORDER. – Q. She puts the note in her purse.

“Hey,” says Kurt when he walks over to her.

“Hey!”

“Do you want to grab a coffee after school? I already need more caffeine.”

“I would, but I have physical therapy.”

Santana walks over to them. “Hey, I just heard that Karofsky’s here.”

“Would they let him come back to school?” asks Mercedes.

“Hey, freak coming through!” yells a student.

David walks down the hall.

“Back off. Get to class,” says the officer escorting him around. “Step back.”

David goes to his locker and grabs his books. He continues to walk down the hall when someone gets in his way.

“Murderer.”

“Step aside, please,” says the officer. “Let’s go.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After school, Mercedes walks out of Gigi Cupcakes with a box of six red velvet cupcakes with pigs as the design. She sees Sean get out his car with Nick and a few other guys. She gets a text. _Want the dirt? Sit there and eat every single one. –Q_ She looks up from her phone and sees Sean and Nick smiling at her. She sighs and sits down at a table and starts eating them.

**Flashback**

It’s freshman year and Mercedes is sitting in her kitchen disgusted with herself. She just finished a whole pie by herself. The doorbell rings and she tries to get rid of the evidence, but Quinn walks in and sees. Mercedes starts crying.

Quinn walks over to her. “I understand.” She pulls her into a hug. “Poor Mercedes.” She wipes away her tears. “You don’t have to feel this way. I can show you how to get rid of it.”

Mercedes nods her head.

**Flashback Ends**

The guys have sat down at another table and have been watching her eat the cupcakes. Hopefully knowing what happened is worth all this humiliation.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Alma walks by Santana’s room and hears giggling. She also sees them playing footsie again. Getting madder by the second, she barges in. “Santana!”

“Abuelita! What are you doing?”

“I won’t live like this.”

“Like what? I-I thought you and Mom were gonna be out.”

“And that gives you permission…? I-I can’t even imagine where this was headed.”

“Alma, promise we were studying. That’s all,” reasons Dani.

“Mrs. Castillo. I am Mrs. Castillo to you.”

“I think I should go.”

“I’m so sorry, Dani.”

“It’s okay. _You_ didn’t do anything wrong.” Dani grabs her things and gives Alma dirty look as she walks out of the room.

“For the first time in my life, I am ashamed that you’re my grandmother.” Santana gets off her bed and runs after Dani.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Back at Gigi’s, Mercedes has one bite left of the cupcakes and she finishes them off. She gets another text. _You know how to get rid of it. –Q_

Kurt sees Mercedes sitting outside of Gigi’s “Mercedes? Hey, are you okay?”

“Oink-oink,” says a soccer player.

“Don’t you guys have practice, or did you lose your balls?”

The guys get up begrudgingly.

He sits down next to her. “I thought you had physical therapy.”

“I lied.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I really hate Q. He has info about Bryce and Quinn, but I had to pay a small price for it.”

“What does he want you to do?”

“Remember when I used to eat when I got nervous or felt bad? Quinn…walked in on me after a binge, and…she was kind. Or so I thought.” She sighs. “She helped me throw up.”

“Mercy…that’s so dangerous.”

“I know, and…that was just such a low point in my life with Bryce and my family drama. I wanted to started taking better care of myself. I knew I could be stronger than that.”

Kurt smiles at her. “Yeah, and you are.”

Mercedes' phone dings. _I just wanted to see you suffer -Q_. She looks up from her phone.

"What?"

"That son of a bitch."

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Alma is tidying up Santana’s room when she picks up a picture of Santana in ballet class. She smiles at the photo and puts it back. She sees Santana’s bag and decides to start snooping. She pulls out a mix CD, a notebook, a pack of breath mints and sees nothing wrong. She starts to put it all back when she opens the pack of breath mints. She sees the weed that Dani keeps in there.


	5. Shitty Personal Lives

* * *

After school, Sean walks into Blaine’s classroom with a satisfied smirk. “Did you take another look at my paper?”

“Yes, Mr. Simmons.” He hands back Sean’s paper with a “C” on the top of it.

“What the hell is this?”

“It’s the grade you earned.” Blaine packs up his things.

“Do you know what this means?”

Blaine gets up from his desk and walks to the door.

Sean grabs Blaine's arm forcefully. “Hey, I’m talking to you!”

Blaine turns around calmly. “I know exactly what it means.” He turns back around and heads out the door.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After talking with Mercedes, Kurt is on his run when he sees David walking down the street. He stops and hides behind a car.

“Why don’t you save us the cost of a trial and drop dead!” yells someone from a car.

David continues walking and he sees two kids enjoying ice cream and he smiles at them, but they run away from him when they see him. He starts walking faster and runs into an alley. He pushes his back against the wall and slides down pitifully.

Kurt jogs over to the alley and hides behind a wall as he watches David hold himself and cry.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Santana gets home, from being with Dani, and goes up to her room and sits on her bed while reading a magazine.

Alma appears in her doorway. “We need to talk. Your friend left her backpack here. I returned it to her parents.”

Santana doesn’t say anything and continues flipping the magazine.

Alma sits on Santana’s bed and pulls the magazine out of her hands. “Are you doing drugs with her, mija? Is that what this whole thing is about?”

“What are you talking about?”

Alma grabs her face. “Are you stoned?”

Santana smacks her hand away. “No!”

“Mija, I want you to know this has nothing to do with her being a girl. If it were a boy…”

“You wouldn’t have gone through his things. Are you lying to yourself or me?”

“I don’t even know who you are anymore!”

“You’re right about that!”

“You’re no longer allowed to see her.”

“You can’t do that. You’re not my mom!”

“Watch me.” Alma starts walking out of the room.

“This doesn’t change the way I feel about her!” Santana yells after her.

Alma stops and turns around slowly. “Don’t bother talking to your parents. They’re as disappointed in you as I am.” She walks out of the room.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After he gets home from his run, Kurt’s in the kitchen finishing up dinner and Finn’s sitting at the table.

“So, what were you and Sean talking about today?” asks Kurt.

“What do you mean?” asks Finn, texting Rachel.

“I saw you with him at school this morning.”

“Yeah.”

“So, are you guys, like, friends now or something?”

“We hang out a little.”

“Since when?”

“I’m just keeping tabs on the guy. Why?”

“Has he asked you anything about me? About our family? Have you told him anything?”

“Like what?”

Kurt goes to the table and sits down. “Look, Finn, I lied to you this morning. Sean, he’s not who you think he is.”

“Kurt, what happened?”

“Nothing, I just need to know what you guys were talking about.”

“He, um, told me about some stupid rumor he had heard.”

“What-- what kind of rumor?”

Burt and Carole walk into the kitchen.

“Well, apparently, Mr. Anderson is having a thing with one of his students.”

“That’s not funny, Finn. Accusations like that can ruin someone’s life,” says Carole.

“I’m not making a joke. Sean swears that he saw them together. He feels terrible for the student, but tomorrow he’s gonna tell Figgins.”

“Kurt, have you heard anything about this?” asks Burt.

He doesn't answer.

"Kurt?" asks Burt again.

He clears his throat. “Guys, I totally screwed up. I, um, promised Mercedes that I’d study at her place tonight. We’ve got this huge midterm tomorrow. She’s totally gonna kill me.” He grabs his bag. “Um, everything’s almost done just let it simmer for a few more minutes.” He heads out the door while everyone else stares after him.

He unlocks his car door and gets inside. He starts punching the steering and crying.

……

A little while later, Blaine is in his apartment drinking bourbon when there’s a knock on the door.

“Coming!” He opens the doors and sees Kurt on the other side.

“What happened today?”

“It’s over, Kurt. The hiding, the sneaking around. It—it’s over.” He walks away from the door.

Kurt follows him. “Wait, Blaine. No, come on, you--you have to tell me what happened.” He grabs the glass from Blaine’s hand and sets it on the table.

“What you and I have…is the most real and honest thing in my life. And that’s something I hope you remember. No matter what happens tomorrow, that won’t change. I’m not gonna change Sean’s grade, and I will not let him hurt you. If I resign tomorrow and get the hell out of Lima, he’ll have no reason to tell anybody about us.”

Kurt starts crying.

Blaine softly touches his cheek. “Hey, even though this doesn’t look right, it has always felt right and I will not let him change this into something that feels wrong."

Kurt leans in and kisses him. “I love you.”

Blaine smiles. “What?”

Kurt giggles. “I love you.” He takes a deep breath. “I’ve never said that to anyone before. I mean except my family and close friends.” 

“I know what you mean. I’ve never said it before either. Except…I love you, Kurt.”

Kurt smiles and they lean into each other and start kissing.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Mercedes is sitting on the couch studying when she looks over at Bryce’s boxes and decides to snoop through them. She’s about the get the tape off one of them when she hears the front door open. She re-tapes the box quickly sit back down on the couch before Melissa walks in with her arms full of groceries.

“Ready for midterms?” asks Melissa as she puts on groceries on the counter.

“Not yet,” answers Mercedes as she highlights something in her book.

“Maybe you can take a break tomorrow night. Bryce and I are treating Mom and Dad to dinner. I’d like it if you came.”

“Yeah, I’ll try, but— “

Something falls on the floor.

“Do you need help?” Mercedes gets up and walks over to pick up the thing that dropped. “Oh. An ovulation kit?”

Melissa snatches it out of her hand. “You weren’t supposed to see that.”

“But I did.”

“Can you keep a secret?”

“Of course.”

“I mean it. This is not something I’m prepared to tell Mom and Dad.”

Mercedes nods.

“I’m trying to get pregnant.”

“With Bryce?!”

“Of course.”

“W-why the rush?”

“We want a big family, And I don’t want to be a grandma when my kids are in high school.”

“I’ve never once heard you say you wanted a big family.”

“Well, we’ve never talked about it, have we?”

“What about Middleton? You worked so hard to get in.”

“I’ll get my law degree, but…I don’t feel like I need to be the best and the first anymore. All those things that used to matter just don’t seem that important.”

“Those things were everything to you.”

“I don’t expect you to understand. When I was your age, that’s all I ever focused on.”

“You focused on those things last week.”

“I’m happy, Mercedes. I really am.”

“Okay. So, getting pregnant is your idea, not Bryce’s?”

“Yes. Don’t you love the thought of a little ‘mini-me’ or ‘mini Bryce’ running around?”

Mercedes laughs nervously.

“Melissa!” says Bryce from the back door. “I-I thought this was something we were gonna keep private.” He walks into the kitchen.

“I know, but I just— “

“I looked in the bag before she could even stop me,” interrupts Mercedes.

Bryce still looks kind of pissed.

“I promise, I won’t tell anyone,” assures Mercedes.

“Trust me, Mercedes can keep a secret,” says Melissa.

“Yeah, I know she can,” says Bryce with a haunting look on his face. 

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Back at Blaine’s, Kurt’s on the phone with his dad. “No, I’ll just borrow something of Mercedes’. Yeah, her--her parents are here. They know I’m staying over. Okay. Good night, Dad.” He hangs up the phone and sees Blaine looking at him from the kitchen table. “Okay, that I won’t let you do that.”

“What?”

“Look at me like…this might be the last time you see me.”

Blaine walks over to the couch and sits down next to Kurt. He wraps his arms around him and kisses his forehead. They both knew the inevitable, but why did it have to come so soon?

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The next morning, Mercedes and Santana are outside of school talking.

“Melissa pregnant?” asks Santana kind of loudly.

“Hey, I said this was a secret.”

“No, it’s not a secret. It’s a bombshell, like in nuclear. It’s a disaster movie.”

“I know.”

“Can you imagine Melissa pregnant? Or even worse, Melissa as a mom?”

“I’ve never once heard Melissa talk about kids. Now she wants to have this huge family? He’s totally manipulating her.”

“Manipulating her? Merce, your sister’s a bad-ass.”

“I don’t know what we’re gonna find, but I have to see what’s inside those boxes.”

“I guess both our lives are shitty currently. I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”

“To who?”

“Dani.”

“Where is she going?”

“They’re sending her to juvie camp, for three months.”

“What happened?”

“My abuela. That’s what happened.” 

……

Inside school, Blaine is finishing packing up his classroom. Once everything is finished, he grabs what can and walks out into the hallway. He passes by Kurt, savoring the moment when he hears Figgins.

“Step aside, please,” says Figgins getting into Sean’s locker.

“Somebody set me up, okay?”

He pulls tests out of Sean’s locker. “You’ll have to explain this one, Mr. Simmons.”

“You have to believe me!”

“You stole the answers to three midterms, Mr. Simmons. I can’t imagine ever believing in you again. This is unacceptable, and I’m really disappointed in you.” 

Kurt and Blaine look at each other with hopefulness in their eyes, but when Mercedes and Santana walk into the hallway, Blaine stops and walks away.

The friends get a text. _Despite what you think, I love your relationship. –Q_

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Later that night, the friends are at Mercedes’ attempting to study, but really just talking about what happened at school.

“I don’t know who I’m more afraid of,” says Kurt. “Q, the bitch who tried to flatten Mercedes. Or Q, our new frenemy.” He starts smiling.

“What?” asks Mercedes.

“Q saved my relationship.”

“Yeah, well, Q tried to kill _her_ ,” says Santana pointing at Mercedes.

“Because Q thought I saw her or him. Q clearly knows now that I didn’t,” says Mercedes.

The back door opens.

“So, the law of cosines is an extension of the Pythagorean theorem to the arbitrary angles…” Mercedes covers up.

“Uh, English, please,” says Santana.

“It’s nice to see the crew together again,” says Melissa when she walks into the kitchen.

“The crew?” questions Santana.

“This is me playing nice, Santana. Mercedes and I have called a truce.”

“Okay, I’ll play along. How does it feel to be married?”

“It feels like I don’t have to try so hard all the time, like things are secure. One thing I don’t need to worry about is Bryce looking at other women.”

The friends look at each other nervously.

Bryce walks into the kitchen. “You ready, my beautiful wife?”

“I am, my handsome husband,” giggles Melissa.

“Bye guys,” says Bryce. Melissa and Bryce leave the house and Mercedes and Kurt start looking at Santana.

“What?” asks Santana.

“There is something that I need to show you, in my room,” says Mercedes.

Both Mercedes and Santana get up from their seats.

“Wait, no. I think she should find it herself,” says Kurt.

Mercedes nods.

Santana gives them a weird look.

“Go! Go!” says Mercedes.

She walks up the stairs into Mercedes’ room and sees the one person she wants to at that moment. “I thought you were gone!” She runs over and hugs Dani.

“I’m leaving in the morning.”

“I’m so sorry, Dani. This is all my fault.”

“Don’t say that. It’s not true.”

“I left you, like, a hundred messages. And when you didn’t call me back, I thought that you were mad at me.”

“My parents blocked my phone.”

“How did you get here?”

“Let’s say it took a village…and a very tall ladder.”

Santana giggles at her.

……

“We’ve got comic books, more comic books, and…more comic books,” says Mercedes looking through Bryce’s boxes.

“Evidence of geek-dom, but not a crime,” comments Kurt.

Santana and Dani walk down the stairs.

“Hey. Thank you, guys, so much,” says Dani.

“Of course,” replies Mercedes.

Santana walks her to the door. “You’ll be back soon.”

Dani nods her head and they kiss goodbye.

Santana walks back into the living room. “I don’t even know how to thank you guys. Tonight was the best gift anyone could have ever given me.” She sits on the couch next to Kurt.

“Look at you, showing your feelings,” teases Kurt.

“Where are they sending her?” asks Mercedes.

“Someplace called True North.”

“Seriously?” asks Kurt.

“Is it bad?” asks Santana.

“They sent Betsy Berger there for huffing spray paint. She came back as a drummer in a gospel band.”

“Dani’s a strong person, Tana. She’s gonna be fine,” says Mercedes.

“Yeah," says Santana sadly. "Did you guys find anything?”

“We’ve looked through every box and found a big, fat nothing,” replies Mercedes. Her phone beeps. _Don’t say I never gave you anything. Check your email. –Q_

The friends go over to Mercedes’ laptop and she opens her email to see and attachment from Q. She clicks on it and a video starts to play.

_“If my friends knew I was seeing you, Oh, my god, they’d never shut up about it,” says Quinn._

“This is the video Agent Cooper showed us,” says Kurt.

_“I wish they were more mature, but…we don’t have a lot of time. I have to get back before they wake up.” The camera zooms in. “I know you want to kiss me.” Quinn gets up and takes the camera and shows Bryce._

The friends gasp.

“Oh, my god!” says Mercedes.

_“Come closer,” says Bryce. He takes the camera back and there’s rustling heard then the camera falls. Then Quinn falls to the ground with a thud._

The friends gasp.

_Quinn grips the dirt, but she un-flexes and the screen fades to black._


	6. Home Videos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Used: Human Nature (Glee Cast Version)

* * *

“He pushed her, didn’t he?” asks Kurt after they watch the video of Quinn and Bryce.

“All that mumbling and groaning, maybe she was gripping the ground because she was—” says Santana.

“Looking for a weapon to defend herself?” asks Mercedes snippily.

“Why are you snapping at me? I’m just trying to give your creepy brother an out.”

“In-law, okay? Bryce is my creepy brother-in-law.”

“Okay, whatever he is, he just married your sister, and he might be a killer.”

“This definitely proves that he was with her the night she died,” says Kurt.

“Can we just watch this video one more time and figure out what they’re saying?” asks Santana.

“No, please. I can’t watch it again,” says Kurt as he goes over to sit on the couch.

“Yeah, Kurt’s right. Let’s just give it a rest,” says Mercedes.

“Is anybody else freezing?” asks Kurt.

“I’ll make some hot chocolate.” Mercedes goes over to the cabinets and starts pulling out ingredients.

“Hot chocolate? What is this, Camp Tecumseh?” asks Santana snidely. “We can’t just sit around singing Kumbaya. We have to hand over that video.”

“What video?” asks Bryce when he walks into the living room, surprising them.

The friends start getting nervous, because the video is still up on Mercedes’ laptop, knowing Bryce can see it at any moment.

“Um, Kurt rented _Moulin Rouge_ , but he left it at home,” says Mercedes.

“Oh, well, you’re welcome to hang with us in the barn. Your sister picked some chick flick on demand. Where do we keep the popcorn?”

“That drawer,” Mercedes points.

“Oh. Okay.” He finds the popcorn.

When he has his back turned, Mercedes creeps over to her laptop and closes it.

“Oh, Kurt, by the way, I’ve been meaning to ask your brother, but do you know if he’s ready to trade in his cleats for a basketball jersey?”

“Probably, but I’ll ask him when he I get home.”

“Thanks.” The friends remain silent and Bryce notices. “What’s up? Did I walk into the middle of a chick flick?” They still don’t say anything. “Okay, I get it-- no older brothers allowed.”

Santana sighs. “God, that was close. ‘Cedes, how can you even sleep here, knowing that he’s living in your backyard?”

“We have to give that tape to the police…tonight,” says Kurt getting on board.

“And when they ask us where we got it?” asks Mercedes.

Bryce walks back in. “Forgot the salt.” He grabs it and walks out the back door again. The friends watch him as he leaves with worried looks on their faces.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The Cheerios have just finished a routine with bright smiling faces.

Coach Sylvester gets on the blow horn. “I’m bored! Ladies, I am at a loss. Brittany, please remind me of how I single-handedly put cheerleading on the map.”

“In 1979, you directed a made-for-TV movie about the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders called _The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders_ ,” answers Brittany.

“That is correct, and in the meantime, what’s changed?”

“Personal grooming habits?” asks Kurt.

“What’s changed is I have completely lost interest and, ladies, I blame you.” She points to them. “Becky, more silicone falsies.”

“Got it, Coach,” says Becky handing out chicken cutlets.

“You will each enhance your bust with an additional pair of chicken cutlets to add some jiggle to what is the most boring routine I have ever witnessed,” instructs Sue.

“But, Coach Sylvester, this is the most elaborate routine the Cheerios have ever done. We’re shoo-ins at Regionals next week, and we’re the favorite to win at Nationals,” says Kurt.”

“Yet I am still so very bored! Even things I used to think were hilarious. Case in point: Sandbags slap yourself with a chicken cutlet.”

Santana slaps herself.

“Now slap Brittany.”

She slaps Brittany.

“See? Not even a chuckle.”

“The problem is you keep trying to make a bigger and bigger spectacle,” says Kurt. “No matter how hard we try, we can’t make a routine work unless you find a way to make it interesting for you. You have to find a way to top yourself.”

“Porcelain, you just may have a point,” says Sue. Kurt smiles. “But to be sure, slap yourself with a chicken cutlet.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

It’s the last quarter and the Titans are on their way to victory! Just need to get this last touchdown and they’ve done it! Right now, they are in their last huddle for their last play of the game.

“I just want to take a minute to tell you guys how proud of you I am,” says Finn in the huddle. “We didn’t even have to win this game to go to championship next week, but nobody took it off. And when we take a knee, we’re gonna finish first in Conference for the first time in McKinley history.”

“Football is back, bitches!” yells Puck.

“Yeah! Maybe we should all break out into a song after we win,” says Karofsky snidely.

“I’d watch it if I were you Karofsky, one wrong move and you’ll end up expelled again.”

“You mean for the crime your butt-buddy brother and his friends accused me of? Like hell.”

“That’s funny, Karofsky, how you’re calling everybody gay all the time, but you never seem to have a girlfriend.”

Karofsky starts charging after Finn, but some of the other guys pull him away.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” says Karofsky. He looks over at the other team. “I really hope that Linebacker doesn’t get the jump on me. I bet it would hurt like hell to get sacked by him.”

Finn rolls his eyes. “All right. Slot left on one. Ready, break!”

“Break!” yells the team.

“Come on, boys. Let’s go!” yells Coach Beiste.

“Go, Titans!” yells Kurt.

“Whoo!” shouts Santana.

“Down! Set! Hut! Go, go, go, go, go!” yells Finn. He’s so nervous about getting sacked, he drops the ball and the huge Linebacker grabs it from him and scores the game winning touchdown with it.

“Nice hands,” says Karofsky snidely as he rams into Finn’s shoulder.

Everyone’s yelling boo and the team’s pissed ‘cause they knew they had this one in the bag.

……

A little while later, Beiste is ripping their asses a new one in the locker room.

“What a joke. What the hell happened? Finn, you’re the captain. Talk!”

“Karofsky sucks! That’s what happened!” yells Finn.

“That’s shit! Hudson’s a fricking girl and couldn’t take a joke about his precious Glee Club,” says Karofsky.

“Because I’m sick of you guys getting down on us for it! We’re in Glee Club. What’s the big deal?” 

“It’s embarrassing. We’re dudes. Getting all hot and bothered about singing a Kesha song. It’s freakin’ weird,” says Azimio. 

“Maybe you’ll think it’s cooler when I go all Tik Tok on your face,” says Puck. 

“Bring it, Puckerman!” 

“That’s enough! Look, Karofsky, I put you back on this team because I thought it would do you some good, but you’re starting up this mess again? You’re on thin ice.”

Karofsky rolls his eyes. “Whatever. Championship game or not, I am not blocking for him.” 

“Get the hell out of here!” yells Beiste. 

“Fine,” says Karofsky. 

“Go! Bunch of babies!”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

“Well that game was a bust,” says Kurt when he’s at his locker with Santana. 

“I don’t understand why Beiste put Karofsky back on the team.” 

He shrugs. “Maybe she feels bad for him. Football was his only outlet. Maybe she wanted him to have some normalcy after being in jail.”

Mercedes walks over to them. “Hey, are we still doing this at after school?”

“If by ‘this,’ you mean taking your laptop to the police, Then, yes, we are,” says Santana.

“But no one called over there, right? They don’t know that we’re coming?” asks Mercedes.

“What’s with the cold feet?” asks Kurt.

“It’s just…I was up all night thinking. What if this is a setup? Q could’ve planted this video on my laptop, knowing that we would turn it in,” says Mercedes.

“Hey, let’s not try to second-guess Q. We’ve been there. We ended up scared of Sean Simmons who turned out to be just a jealous psycho looking for a better grade,” says Santana.

“Yeah, but let’s not forget Q also tried to kill _me_ for knowing too much. We could be walking into a trap.”

“You are already living in it,” says Kurt.

“No. Bryce…might have done other stuff, But he’s not Q. There’s no way he’d want us knowing this video even exists,” says Mercedes.

“But it does, and the police need to know what happened to Quinn that night. Karofsky gave Quinn his sweater before she saw Bryce, and Karofsky shouldn’t go to jail for a crime he didn’t commit.”

Santana sighs. “He’s right. We’ll head over right after school.” 

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Coach Beiste and Mr. Shue are in the teacher’s lounge talking after the game. 

“This stuff between the jocks and the Glee Club has been going on since I started running the club,” explains Mr. Shue. 

“Maybe. Just seems like it’s so much worse right now with Karofsky being back on the team. I’ve won division championships at three different schools. You have to understand what winning means to a community. Grades go up, the streets are cleaner. Crime goes down. It’s a sense of pride, of unity and this school deserves that after what’s happened,” says Coach Beiste. 

“And you are gonna get it for us. I mean, you won almost every game this year.” 

“Winning Conference was easy. The team we’re up against for Championship they’re much better than us. If you don’t have the talent, you rely on the chemistry. They don’t have to like each other, but they have to respect each other.” 

“This whole thing is just so weird. I mean, half of your starters are in my Glee Club.” 

Coach Beiste sighs. “I just don’t know what to do.” 

He leans in. “Do you trust me?” 

She gets a smirk on her face. “You’re not gonna try and kiss me again, are ya?” 

“If you trust me I think I know a way to get your team united again.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The glee club are in the choir room waiting for rehearsal to start in when Artie rolls in covered from head to toe in slushies.

“Oh, my God! Artie!” yells Tina when she sees him.

Brittany looks over and goes immediately over to him.

“It was awful,” says Artie.

“That’s it. Screw rehearsal. This ends here and now,” says Finn as he gets up.

Sam, Puck, and Mike follow him.

“We’re gonna go all Thunderdome on those guys,” says Puck.

“So, this is what the ladies’ lounge looks like on the inside,” says Karofsky.

“This is the choir room. Now put up your fists because you and I are gonna do some dancing,” threatens Sam.

“Whatever. Coach Beiste told us to come,” says Karofsky. “Where is she?”

“Watch it,” says Coach Beiste when she walks in with Mr. Shue. “Everyone have a seat.”

The football team has a seat.

“You too, guys,” says Mr. Shue. The glee club has a seat. “All right. New Directions, let’s give a warm welcome to the newest members of Glee Club.”

“What?!” yells Kurt.

“Oh, hell to the no, Mr. Shue. Are you serious?” says Mercedes.

“Guys!” yells Mr. Shue.

“Mr. Shue, are you serious? The football team has been terrorizing us since the beginning of time,” says Kurt.

“And there’s no way that I am sharing the choir room with a known homophobe,” says Rachel.

“I don’t disagree with you guys, but I talked to Coach Beiste about it and her and I both agreed that the kind of bullying that David does is born out of ignorance. Having him in here, as difficult as it may be for us, is an opportunity to show him and the rest of the guys that being in Glee Club is kind of cool. You know, find some common ground.”

Coach Beiste turns to the football team. “All of you are gonna be in this Glee Club for one week, no exceptions.”

“She’s bluffing. Next week is the Championship game. Without us, she has no team,” says Karofsky.

“With you, I have no team. You guys have gotta find a way to come together or we’re gonna get our asses kicked from here until Tuesday finds a saddlebag full of buckwheat.”

“If I have to stay, I’m not singing no show tunes. That is the music of my oppressors,” says Azimio.

“Do you even have any idea what we do in here?” asks Mike.

“No. None of them do. We have to show them,” says Mr. Shue. “Mercedes, Sam why don’t you guys show them what glee club is all about.”

Mercedes and Sam grumpily get up and Sam grabs a guitar. Mercedes whispers in his ear and Sam smiles. He starts plucking the beginning notes of the song.

 **Mercedes:**  
Looking out  
Across the nighttime  
The city winks a sleepless eye  
Hear his voice  
Shake my window  
Sweet seducing sighs  
  
**Sam:**  
Get me out  
Into the nighttime  
Four walls won’t hold me tonight  
If this town  
Is just an apple  
Then let me take a bite  
  
**Mercedes:**  
If they say  
  
**Mercedes and Sam:**  
Why? Why?  
Tell ‘em that it’s human nature  
Why, why  
  
**Mercedes:**  
Does he do me that way?  
If they say  
  
**Mercedes and Sam:**  
Why? Why?   
Tell ‘em that it’s human nature  
  
**Sam:**  
Why? ( **Mercedes** : Why?) Why?  


Sam puts down the guitar and grabs Mercedes’ hand.

**Mercedes:**  
Does he do me that way, yeah  
  
**Sam:**  
Reaching out  
To touch a stranger  
  
**Mercedes and Sam:**  
Electric eyes are everywhere ( **Mercedes:** Ooh)  
  
**Sam:**  
See that girl?  
She knows I’m watching  
She likes the way I stare  


They dance around each other.

**Mercedes:**  
If they say  
  
**Mercedes and Sam:**  
Why? Why?  
Tell ‘em that it’s human nature  
Why? Oh, why?  
Does he do me that way?  
  
**Mercedes:**  
If they say  
  
**Sam:**  
Why? ( **Mercedes:** Why?) Why?  
  
**Mercedes and Sam:**  
Tell ‘em that it’s human nature  
  
**Sam:**  
Why? ( **Mercedes:** Why?) Oh, why?  
  
**Mercedes and Sam:**  
Does he do me that way?  
  
**Mercedes:**  
I like livin’ this way  
  
**Sam:**  
I like lovin’ this way  
  
**Mercedes:**  
Oh, why, oh, why  
Oh, why, oh, why

  
**Sam:**  
Why? ( **Mercedes:** Why?) Why? ( **Mercedes:** Why, why, why, why)  
  
**Mercedes and Sam:**  
Tell ‘em that it’s human nature  
Why? Why?  
Does he do me that way?  
  
**Sam:**  
Why? ( **Mercedes:** Dooby-doo-why) Why? ( **Mercedes** _:_ Dooby-doo-why, ooh)  
Tell ‘em that ( **with** **Mercedes:** it’s human nature)  
  
**Mercedes and Sam:**  
Why?  
  
**Sam:**  
Why?  
  
**Mercedes and Sam:**  
Does he do me that way?  
  
**Mercedes:**  
I like livin’ this way  
  
**Sam:**  
I like lovin’ this way  
  
**Mercedes:**  
Oh, why, oh, why  
Oh, why, oh, why  
  
**Mercedes and Sam:**  
Why? Why?  
Tell ‘em that it’s human nature  
Why?

After the performance, the glee club applauds and cheers for them while the football team remains unimpressed.

“I thought the blonde-headed girl had a really nice voice,” says Azimio.

“That’s really funny, dude,” says Sam. He then grabs the guitar again and charges at Azimio with it.

Soon, the glee club and football team are in a fighting match and Mr. Shue and Coach Beiste are trying to break it up.

“Great first day, right?” yells Mr. Shue to Coach Beiste.

“Awesome!” she replies.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

“Glee club’s now a joke,” says Mercedes.

“50 bucks we’re all gonna kill each other by the end of the week,” says Santana.

“Don’t joke about that. Not with Karofsky in the room,” says Kurt.

“Kurt, we know he didn’t do it,” says Santana.

“I know, but it’s just too close to home,” says Kurt.

Mercedes look at her watch. “Come on, guys. I want to get to the police station before they close.”

“Wait, hold on. What’s this?” asks Santana when she looks at her phone and sees notification about Mercedes’ Spotify playing music.

“What am I looking at?” asks Kurt.

“How come it shows your music’s online when your laptop’s on your shoulder, ‘Cedes? Look, isn’t that your playlist?”

“What?” says Mercedes. She takes her bag off her shoulder and opens it up. She looks in her bag and pulls out a yearbook.

“Why are you carrying a yearbook?” asks Santana.

“I’m not.”

“Where’s your laptop?” asks Kurt.

“It’s in my bag, except it’s not. This is insane. This bag has been plastered to my side all morning.”

“What about P.E.?” asks Kurt.

“It was in my gym locker, but no one else has that combo.”

“The coaches do. Bryce must’ve heard us last night,” says Santana.

“Well, if he did, then he knows what’s on there,” says Kurt.

“If he has my laptop…” starts Mercedes.

“He knows we’ve seen what’s on there, too,” finishes Santana. 


	7. Championship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready...this is a long one.

* * *

Before school, the next morning, Kurt decides to surprise Blaine with breakfast. He knocks on the door and Blaine opens it with a worried look on his face.

“Is this a bad time?” asks Kurt.

“No, no, I just, uh…” Blaine looks into the hallway to see if anyone’s around.

Kurt walks into the apartment. “I know, I know. It was impulsive. I should’ve called. I know that’s our deal, but I wanted to surprise you with coffee and bagels.” He sets the food down on the table. “Since we’re not going to get a lot of time alone this week.”

Blaine grabs his coffee. “That’s really sweet. And now I don’t have to rush to get to the coffee shop.”

“I know, I’m amazing.”

Blaine smiles. “Yes, you are.” His voice gets low. “And I can’t wait to see you in your Cheerios uniform again.” He kisses Kurt’s neck.

Kurt gasps. “Mr. Anderson!” He pulls away from Blaine. “Did you know I’m very flexible?”

“You don’t say.”

“Yeah and I plan on showing you that sometime soon.”

Blaine smiles and looks at the clock. “Oh shit, I gotta finish getting ready. I’ll see you at school.” He kisses Kurt and runs in the bathroom.

Kurt laughs at him and leaves the apartment.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Later that day, at Cheerios practice, Sue unveils her showstopper.

“Ladies, my ‘Sue-clear’ weapon.” It’s a huge cannon that has the power to fire over three football fields. “Brittany…climb on up. Congratulations. You’re doing the stunt for the big competition.”

“I don’t want to die yet,” replies Brittany in a small voice. “At least not until _One Tree Hill_ gets canceled.”

“Fine. To put your toddler-fist sized mind at rest we’ll do one final test run.” Sue and Becky grab a dummy and stuff it into the canon. Then Sue hits a button and the canon fires, which explodes the dummy into many pieces. All the Cheerios have horrified looks on their faces.

“Any of you take German?” asks Sue nonchalantly. “I may have to read the owner’s manual.”

Brittany sadly picks up the dummy’s head.

“Don’t worry,” says Kurt. “I’ll talk to Mr. Shue and take care of this.”

……

By lunch, Sue and Shue are in Figgin’s office.

“Sue, what the hell were you thinking?” asks Figgins. “You cannot perform a stunt that dangerous. Our insurance premium is through the roof as it is!”

“Cheerleading is a sport. There are dangers involved. It’s the same as when a Quarterback is sacked or a hockey player is slammed up against the boards.”

“Enough, Sue!” yells Mr. Shue. “There is no excuse for putting a student’s life at risk!”

“I’m a tastemaker, Will. I know what an audience wants. You’re not going to take this away from me. I need this. This level of risk and danger makes me feel alive again!”

“But the risk and danger isn’t to you!” yells Figgins.

“That’s the best part!”

“Enough!” yells Figgins. “It’s decided. You’re not allowed to fire anyone out of that cannon without their consent!”

Sue calmly gets up from her chair and exits the office.

“Huh.”

But then she starts going on a rampage and breaking everything. Lamps, paintings, the computer, the receptionist.

“It’s coming out of your paycheck! Every penny of it!” She pushes a student to the ground. “Oh, God.”

“That’s a lawsuit,” says Mr. Shue shaking his head.

……

A little later, Mr. Shue’s in the locker room with Coach Beiste.

“I’m telling you. I wish you could have seen it,” says Mr. Shue.

Sue comes into the locker room and start destroying it as well.

“It was sort of like that.”

“What the hell are you doing?” asks Coach Beiste.

Sue takes a deep breath. “I’m sending a message. Sue Sylvester’s done playing nice. I just got off the phone with the Ohio Cheerleading Board and they accepted my request to move my Regional to the same night as your Championship game. Congratulations. You just lost your halftime show and the cheerleaders.” She exits the locker room.

Coach Beiste sighs. “What the crap are we gonna do now?”

A light bulb goes off in his head. “I got it.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Mr. Shue and Coach Beiste sits the glee club down and tells them about the halftime game.

“No fricking way!” yells Karofsky.

“We don’t have a choice. Coach Sylvester pulled the Cheerios from the game.” Kurt and Santana look at each other worriedly. “So, if we don’t do it, there’s no halftime show.”

“And this is a problem because…?” asks Artie.

“It’s not a problem. It’s an opportunity,” answers Mr. Shue.

“Opportunity to humiliate ourselves,” says a football player.

“Hey. The whole point of this week was to bring you guys together. To bring the school together.”

“Wait,” starts Azimio. “So, you want us to play the first half change into some ‘sequeen’ ball gowns and then go out and do the halftime show at our own championship game?”

“Yes,” answers Coach Beiste.

“It’s the championship game! This is a crazy town! This is crazy!” yells Azimio.

“What about the Cheerios in Glee Club?” asks Finn.

“They have a choice. Us, or the Cheerios competition,” answers Mr. Shue.

“Well, obviously, Santana’s is gonna choose the Cheerios,” says Rachel.

“Well, that’s not fair. You don’t know what she’s gonna do,” counters Puck.

“I think the cheerleading competition is gonna be a lot of fun,” says Mr. Shue. “But if you go, you’re gonna miss out on us doing the most iconic song of all time the Super Bowl of pop anthems: ‘Thriller’.

“Yes!” yells Tina.

“Yeah, remember a few years ago when that Philippine prison did that mega performance of ‘Thriller’ and put it on YouTube? In the four months it took to rehearse that number, prisoner-on-prisoner crime dropped 80%. Doing that, together, as a team created a unity within that prison. And that’s what we’re looking to do here.”

“I mean, don’t get me wrong. You know, I’m big on Michael and everything, but isn’t that kind of what they’re expecting us to do?” asks Mercedes.

“Which is why we’re gonna mash it together with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ equally spooky single ‘Heads Will Roll’,” answers Mr. Shue.

“Who’s Yeah Yeah Yeah?” asks Azimio.

“All right. New Directions, Titans we’re going to zombie camp,” says Coach Beiste.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

“A five, six, seven, eight!” shouts Mr. Shue as the New Directions and Titans stumble their way through “Thriller”. It's not going well. Rachel's doing ballerina moves and the football team look very uncomfortable. Mr. Shue and Coach Beiste look at each other with worried faces.

“Time out, time out, time out,” says Mr. Shue.

A football player runs into Karofsky. “Back off!” yells Karofsky.

“Knock it off!” yells Coach Beiste.

“Okay, guys. It’s good, but let’s put a little life into it,” says Mr. Shue.

“But we’re dead,” says Karofsky.

“Then put some afterlife into it. So, get out of your heads and get into your characters. All right?”

The boys start stumbling around like zombies.

“Very creative. I like that,” says Mr. Shue.

……

“A five, six, seven, eight!” yells Mr. Shue.

They do a little combination which goes surprisingly well.

“All right. Nice progress, guys. Let’s take a breather, and I’ll see you in the choir room in five minutes for a lesson in zombie makeup.”

The glee club and Titans start walking to the choir room.

“Makeup? No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” says Azimio.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” says Coach Beiste as she starts dragging him.

“Hey, Dave, can I talk to you for a sec?” asks Mr. Shue.

“Look, I know I’m bad,” says Karofsky. “Can you just spare me so we can get through this?”

“That’s not what I was gonna say at all. You’re actually really good. Instead of using anger and aggression to move past what happened, why don’t you channel it into glee club? Just think about it.”

“Okay,” Karofsky replies softly.

……

The glee club and football players are in the choir room working on zombie makeup. Kurt and Finn are a station and Kurt is putting makeup on Finn when Karofsky comes over.

“I need to talk to you guys.”

"Oh. You want to talk to the fag who put you in jail?" asks Kurt in a snarky tone.

“It’s already hard enough not to kick him in the nuts every time I see him,” says Finn to Kurt.

“You think maybe we should do a warm-up number or something before we do that big ‘Thriller’ thing at halftime?”

Kurt and Finn look at each other with surprised looks.

“You know, I figure the only way I’m gonna keep any street cred around here after dancing around like an idiot in front of the whole school is if we kick ass at it.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” says Kurt.

“Couldn’t agree more,” says Finn.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After glee practice, Mercedes, Kurt, and Santana are in the bathroom.

“What the hell are we gonna do? If we go to our cheerleading competition then we miss the halftime show and we’re out of glee club. I’m torn,” says Kurt wiping the zombie makeup off his face.

“Well, I’m not,” says Santana.

Mercedes sighs. “I think you guys should go.”

“What?” asks Kurt.

“We still don’t know who Q is and we need to keep our friends close and enemies closer,” explains Mercedes. “I don’t wanna wake any kind of beast. And if that means you guys pledging your allegiance to Coach Sylvester then I think you should go.”

“No! The first year I’m actually excited for glee club and I’m gonna get kicked out! This is horse shit,” says Santana.

Kurt puts his hand on Santana’s shoulder. “You know she’s right. We can’t risk pissing off anyone else.”

“I’ll tell glee club. You guys just go to Cheerios practice,” says Mercedes.

“No,” says Santana. “We’ll tell them together.”

Kurt sighs. “What about Brittany?”

Santana rolls her eyes. “She’ll go. Probably because Coach Sylvester wrote a note to her in crayon.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The next day, Mercedes, Kurt, and Santana have just finished telling the glee club that Kurt, Santana and Brittany have to quit.

“How the hell could you guys do this?” asks Finn as he gets up from his seat.

“Oh, don’t get all up in our face, Finn. What were we supposed to do?” asks Kurt.

“Uh, quit Cheerios. Coach Sylvester is awful to you guys. She wants to shoot Brittany out of a cannon!”

“And you don’t think that we feel awful about that?” asks Santana.

“You guys don’t need to be a Cheerio to be cool.”

“This is not about being cool. It’s about staying alive, Finn,” says Mercedes.

He gets close to Mercedes. “I know you. You would never want to jeopardize the glee club, so why are you now?”

Mercedes stays silent.

“Wow. I never realized you were so freaking weak.”

“What did you say?” asks Sam getting up from his chair and getting in Finn’s face.

“I said she’s being weak.”

“Why are you yelling at _my_ girlfriend about it?”

“I’m yelling at her because she’s the leader of this team. And I’m the other leader and we’re supposed to work together, but instead she’s jeopardizing everything we’ve worked for.”

“Maybe it’s time for a change at the top.”

All the air gets sucked out of the room.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that maybe the reason everyone hates us is because we need some new leadership. Face it, you’ve had your feet in both worlds for a year and never been able to bring them together. Maybe someone else could.”

“What? As in maybe you?”

“As in yes.”

“Maybe we should settle this right now,” Finn pushes Sam. “Bring it.”

Sam pushes him back. “Brung.”

“Really, guys? Really?” asks Mercedes clearly fed up with the situation.

“Hey, hey! How many fights do I have to break up this week?” yells Mr. Shue as he gets in between them. “Now calm down. Let’s get back to business.” He turns to Kurt, Santana, and Brittany. “I’m sorry, but you guys have to leave.”

Kurt and Santana hug Mercedes goodbye and they walk out of the choir room with Brittany holding hands with Santana.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Kurt goes over to Blaine’s after dinner that night.

“Hey, are you okay?” asks Blaine when he opens the door. “You sounded really upset on the phone.”

Kurt walks into the apartment. “I quit the glee club.”

“Why? You love glee club!”

Kurt sits on the couch and sighs. “It’s a long and complicated story.”

“I’ve got nothing but time.” He sits down next to him and kisses his forehead.

Kurt takes a deep breath. “Well— “

Kurt’s phone beeps. **SOS. The football team quit the game ‘cuz they got slushies thrown at them after their zombie number and couldn’t take it. –Mercy**

“Goddammit.”

“What?”

He shows Blaine the text. “Now the football team quit because they had slushies thrown at them. Who cares? I got slushies thrown at me while I was wearing _Alexander McQueen_.”

“So, the whole team quit?”

“Everybody not in Glee. You can’t play football with five guys, and one of them is in a wheelchair.”

Kurt’s phone beeps again. **Coach Beiste put up a sign-up sheet for people to join. I think they’ll take anyone at this point. –Mercy**

Blaine looks at the text. “Well, the good news is you actually only need four more guys. High school regulations let you play a couple guys short if you want to.”

Kurt gets a lightbulb.

“But if they figure out a way to make it work you can bet that I’ll definitely be there to cheer them on.”

Kurt gasps. “I gotta go talk to Mercedes.” He kisses Blaine goodbye and runs out the door.

Blaine smiles to himself. “Love you too.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The rest of the glee club are sitting in the choir room trying to figure out how to play in the game.

“Why can’t we just let them back on the team just for this game?” asks Sam.

“No. We carry this thing through even if it means having to forfeit the game,” replies Coach Beiste

“I can’t believe this is it,” says Finn.

“Maybe it isn’t,” says Mercedes as she goes up to the front of the room. “We want to join the team.”

“'We’ who?” asks Artie.

“All of us Glee girls plus Nick,” says Rachel. She, Tina, and Nick walk to the front of the room. “We want to join the football team and we want to play in the championship.”

“Come on, guys. Stop screwing around. It’s not cool,” says Mike.

“What’s not cool is you guys not respecting women enough to realize we’re perfectly capable of playing football,” says Tina.

“Mercedes, have you actually seen a tackle football game? When they tackle you, it hurts,” says Mr. Shue.

“Yeah, and not in the good Mellencamp way,” says Puck.

“We thought about that, but the truth is, is that you guys don’t really need us to play. You just need enough players out there to field a regulation team. So, when they snap the ball, we’re just gonna lie down on the ground,” explains Mercedes.

“I’m not. I’m gonna bring the pain,” says Nick.

“I guess they won’t get hurt if you stay down,” says Coach Beiste.

“Okay, what do your parents have to say about this?” asks Mr. Shue.

“We all have signed permission slips from them,” says Tina as Mercedes shows Mr. Shue and Coach Beiste the permission slips. “It took some convincing, but they understood what it means to all of us.”

“What do you think, Coach?” asks Mr. Shue.

“I think-- Welcome to the football team,” says Coach Beiste with a smile on her face.

“Yes! Yeah! Football team! Football team! High five, teammate!” cheers Rachel.

Finn goes over to hug Mercedes. An action that didn’t go unnoticed by Sam and Rachel.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The next day, Mercedes walks downstairs into the kitchen.

“Oh, hey there,” says Bryce, cutting up a sandwich on what seems to be her laptop.

“Hey, um, you haven’t seen my laptop anywhere, have you? I’ve got this paper due Monday, and I can’t find it anywhere.”

“Hmm. I mean, you had it the other night, right? Weren’t you and your friends looking at it?”

“Yeah…but I thought I brought it with me to school.”

“But you backed up your files, right?”

“Yeah. Yeah, most of it, the important stuff.”

“Well, I haven’t seen it. Maybe it’s in the barn. You’re welcome to check.

“Oh, okay.”

“Hey, listen, do you want half of this? We’re gonna need plenty of energy for tonight.”

“We? You’re going to the game? Why?”

“Well, I’m the new basketball coach. Gotta show school spirit. And it was either that or spending a night in Columbus with Melissa and her law school friends. Yeah, a football game felt less painful,” he chuckles.

“And Melissa is okay with that?”

“Well, yeah, she knows it’s not my scene. I’m more comfortable here. Or at least I used to be.”

“Why, what’s changed?”

“Well, you know how it is--small town, people gossip. They think they know you, but they don’t.”

“Who exactly are we talking about here?”

“Listen, Mercy, what do you say we put the past behind us? We’re living under the same roof now. Let’s try and be a family.” He hands her half of the sandwich and walks out the back door.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

That evening, as Mercedes is walking to the choir room to get ready for the game, she sees Bryce in his office zipping up his bag. He takes his keys out of his pocket and locks the bag into one of the drawers. She moves away from the door before he sees her.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

It’s time for the game and the crowd is pumped! Blaine’s there, Bryce, The Hudson-Hummels, Mr. Shue. Hopefully they can win this one.

Finn’s stretching when he sees Karofsky, Azimio, and the rest of the guys on the field before the game starts. He goes over to them. “It’s not too late.”

“To commit social suicide?” asks Karofsky. “How the hell you gonna play with five guys, huh?”

Just then, the girls and Nick strut onto the field.

“You have got to be kidding me,” says Karofsky.

“What the hell are they doin’?” asks Azimio.

“What you don’t have the balls to do,” says Finn with a smile on his face. He runs over to the team.

“Whoo-hoo!” yells Tina.

“I’m excited!” yells Rachel.

“Yeah! Are you ready for this?” Puck asks Mercedes.

“Let’s kick some ass!” she yells in response.

“Yeah!” yells Nick.

The team gets into a huddle.

“Punch and Judy on one. Ready, break!” says Finn.

“Break!” says the boys.

“Who’s Judy?” asks Rachel.

“All right. Let’s go!” yells Coach Beiste from the sidelines.

“Where do I go?” asks Rachel.

“You go right down here,” answers Finn.

“What do I do?” asks Rachel as she gets down the ground.

“You’re gonna die,” says Nick to the other team.

“Blue 42! Blue 42! Down! Set! Hut!” yells Finn.

The girls get down on the ground while Nick actually tries to block. Finn gets the ball and runs in the opposite direction. He sees that Puck is open and throws the ball to him, but the other team’s player catches it instead.

“Damn it!” yells Coach Beiste.

“Is it over?” asks Rachel still on the ground.

“What happened?” asks Tina next to her.

……

It’s almost the end of the quarter and they’re getting their asses handed to them.

“All right. How’s everyone doing?” asks Finn while everyone’s in the huddle.

“Kill me now. I want to die,” says Tina.

“Is anyone else tired of lying down all the time? I want to play,” says Mercedes.

“Just don’t get ahead of yourself, okay? Ready, break!” yells Finn. “All right, guys. Let’s go. Down.”

They get into formation.

“The blitz! The blitz! Watch!” yells Coach Beiste.

“Set! Hut!” yells Finn.

The girls get on the ground again. As the play goes on, other team drops the ball and Mercedes sees.

“Pick it up!” yells Mike.

“Get the ball! Get the ball! Get the ball! Come on! Get it! Get it! Run! Run! Run! Yeah! Go! Run, girl!” yells Coach Beiste.

Mercedes gets up and grabs the ball. She starts running as fast as she can down the field.

“Yeah Mercedes!” yells Bryce.

“Go Mercedes!” yells Blaine.

“Go! Go! Go, go!” yells Carole.

Mercedes gets tackled pretty hard and seems like the world stops.

"Mercedes!" yells Bryce. He runs down from the stands over to her.

“Mercedes!” yells Sam as he runs over to her.

“Go!” yells Coach Beiste to get the medic.

They get over to her to check to see if she broke any bones.

“Is she breathing?” asks Sam.

Bryce gets to Mercedes. "Is she okay? Check her leg!"

The medics turn Mercedes over and she takes the mouth guard out of her mouth. “Did we win?”

The crowd starts cheering as she gets up from the ground. And there’s a collective sigh from the team. Everyone starts walking toward the sidelines.

“We’re still in this,” says Finn as he takes off his helmet.

“Give it up, Finn. Our only shot at redemption right now is to kick butt at the halftime show,” says Rachel.

“Sam,” calls Finn. “I need you to play quarterback for the rest of the half.”

“Okay.”

“Puck, when the half ends, you gotta go convince Karofsky and the rest of the guys to do the halftime show with us.”

“How the hell am I supposed to do that?” asks Puck.

“Figure it out. You’re my wingman, right?”

“I got tone, Mav,” replies Puck and they do a pound.

Finn turns to Mercedes. "How are you doing?"

"Good. What are you up to?"

“Can’t have a halftime show without cheerleaders,” smirks Finn. He reaches out his hand to Mercedes. She smiles and takes his hand and they start walking toward the parking lot. With Sam and Rachel looking after them with disappointed faces.

……

“I’m gonna die,” says Brittany as she looks at the cannon.

“It’ll be worth it,” says Santana.

“Hey!” yells Finn as him and Mercedes run over.

“What are you guys doing here?” asks Kurt.

“Stopping you from going to Sue’s regionals competition. You guys gotta come to the game with us.”

“Haven’t you been paying attention? We don’t want to get hurt again,” says Kurt.

“You’re not going to.”

“How can you promise that?” asks Mercedes.

“Because I’m gonna devote anytime time I have in protecting you three. You’re too important to me. What's the point in being safe if Sue's gonna shoot Brittany out of a cannon. Might as well hit Sue where it hurts.”

“Okay,” says Kurt.

“Okay,” says Mercedes.

“What about you, Santana?” asks Finn.

“Screw her. She put me on the bottom of the pyramid.”

“Come on. We’ve only got a few minutes,” says Finn. They start to walk away.

“No time for an orgy, ladies. Bus leaves in five,” says Sue.

“We quit Cheerios,” says Kurt.

“You can’t quit Cheerios. It’s blood in, blood out. Now get your sweet little cans on that bus,” says Sue.

“But we still quit,” says Santana.

“You’re my stars. If you leave I have no performance!” yells Sue.

“Sucks for you,” says Brittany. And the five of them walk away leaving Sue to start hyperventilating.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Puck walks into the locker room and sees the football team cleaning out their lockers.

“Looking good out there, Puck,” says Karofsky.

“You know what? I don’t want to hear it, Karofsky. I don’t want to hear it from any of you. You're all a bunch of cowards. Coward losers!”

“Yeah, you’re the only loser losing this game,” says Azimio.

“You know, this is it. This is the moment of our lives. This is the one we can actually look back and tell our children about. This is our moment to actually win something. And you guys are sitting in the damn stands! I mean, you’re so afraid of being called geeks or losers or gay that you settle for being nothing. Come on. We still have a whole half to play. And we can win this, guys. I know it.”

“What’s the point, man? Beiste isn’t gonna let us play,” says one of the players.

“She will if you come out and perform at the halftime show,” says Puck.

“I’m in,” says Azimio.

“Me too,” says a player.

“No way,” says Karofsky.

“Come on, man. I really want to win this game. It would mean so much to my dad, man,” says Azimio.

“Forget it, okay? Glee Club sucks,” says Karofsky.

“Fine. Karofsky’s out. Whatever. But the rest of you need to get in your zombie makeup and hit the field tout de suite,” says Puck. “Come on!” And they run out of the locker room pumped.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

 **Mercedes and Santana with New Directions:**  
Off with your head  
D-dance dance dance till you’re dead  
O-off off off with your head  
D-dance dance dance till you’re dead  
O-off off off with your head  
  
 **Artie:**  
It’s close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark, ah  
Ah, Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart  
  
 **Artie with New Directions:**  
You try to scream ( **Artie** : Ah)  
  
 **Artie and Mercedes (Santana):**  
But terror takes the sound before you make it (Heads will roll, heads will roll!)  
  
 **Artie with New Directions:**  
( **Artie** : Ah) You start to freeze  
  
 **Artie and Mercedes:**  
As horror looks you right between the eyes  
  
 **Artie:**  
You're paralyzed, ah, ‘cause this is  
  
 **Artie with New Directions:**  
Thriller, thriller night   
  
**Artie:**  
And no one’s gonna save you   
From the beast about to strike  
You know it’s  
  
 **Artie with New Directions:**  
Thriller, thriller night  
  
 **Artie:**  
You’re fighting for your life inside a  
  
 **Artie with New Directions:**  
Killer, thriller, Tonight!  
  
 **Mercedes and Santana with New Directions:**  
Off with your head  
D-dance dance dance till you’re dead  
O-off off off with your head  
D-dance dance dance till you’re dead

**Finn:**  
Darkness falls across the land  
The midnight hour is close at hand ( **Santana** : Ahhhhh)  
Creatures crawl in search of blood  
To terrorize y’alls neighborhood  
And though you fight to stay alive ( **Santana** : Off with your head)  
Your body starts to shiver ( **Santana** : Dance ‘till you're dead)  
For no mere mortal can resist ( **Santana** : Heads will roll, heads will roll!)  
The evil of Thriller ( **Santana** : Heads will roll, on the floor!)  
  
 **New Directions:**  
Thriller night!  
  
 **Artie:**  
Cause this is  
  
 **Artie with New Directions:**  
Thriller, thriller night  
  
 **Artie:**  
Girl, I can thrill you more   
Than any ghost could ever dare try  
  
 **New Directions:**  
Thriller, ( **Artie** : Oh oh) thriller night  
  
 **Artie:**  
So let me hold you tight and share a  
  
 **Artie with New Directions:**  
Killer, thriller, Tonight!  
  
 **Mercedes and Santana with New Directions:**  
Off with your head ( **New Directions** : Thriller night)  
D-dance dance dance until you’re dead ( **New Directions** : Thriller night)  
O-off off off with your head ( **New Directions** : Thriller night)  
D-dance dance dance until you’re dead ( **New Directions** : Thriller night)  
O-off off off with your head

The show went off without a hitch and Karofsky ended up joining in the dance. And crowd is cheering at the top of their lungs.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Coach Beiste lets the football team play in the second half and with their respect for each other, they’re able to win the championship! The first time in McKinley history! They even started to chant "BRAINS" to throw off the either team. Yeah, it’s weird, but a good weird.

After the game, Mercedes, Kurt and Santana go outside Bryce’s office and talk.

“So, you saw Bryce zipping up his bag and lock it into one of his drawers?” asks Santana.

“Yeah,” replies Mercedes.

“You’re sure your laptop’s in that bag?” asks Kurt.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” says Mercedes.

“Why would he bring it to school when he knows that you were gonna be here?” asks Santana.

“Maybe he thought I’d bail out early, go home and snoop through his things. He didn't know I was in the game until he got there,” answers Mercedes.

“Why don’t you?” asks Kurt.

“Already did,” answers Mercedes. “We need the bag.”

“What if he already erased the video?” asks Kurt.

“Well, then we know for sure he’s hiding something, and we go to the police,” answers Mercedes.

“With a non-video? You think they’re gonna take our word for it?” asks Santana.

“Look, we saw what we saw. Something went down between him and Quinn, and he buried her in the yard to shut her up,” says Mercedes. “We only have a few minutes before he comes back. Come on.” She takes a bobby pin out of her hair and starts picking the lock. She gets the door unlocked and they sneak into the office.

“So, how are we gonna get into the drawer with his keys?” asks Santana.

“He keeps a spare underneath the desk,” answers Mercedes. She finds it. “And here it is.” She tries out the key, but it doesn’t work.

“Crap!” says Mercedes.

“Now what?” asks Kurt.

“Let’s get out of here before we get caught.” She puts the key back and they leave the office and lock the door back.

“Why can’t this ever be easy?” asks Santana.

“’Cuz that’s not how Q plays. They want us to grovel.”

They see Bryce coming around the corner.

Fed up, Santana walks over to him. “I know what you did. We all know and you’re not gonna get away with it.”

“Santana! Stop,” says Kurt as he grabs her takes her to the parking lot. Mercedes starts to follow.

“Kurt can handle that,” says Bryce as he grabs Mercedes.

“What are you doing?”

“You and I are gonna talk.” He backs her up into a wall. “What was she talking about?”

“I--I don’t know.”

“And I think you do.”

“She-she knows about us. She knows we kissed last summer.”

He chuckles darkly. “Well, I thought we agreed we were gonna keep that a secret. Who else knows besides your little friends?”

“No one,” she answers quickly.

“That better be the truth…” He leans into her ear. “Or someone’s gonna get hurt.” He backs away. "Glad you're feeling better Mercedes." He goes to his office while Mercedes runs to go find Kurt and Santana.

……

She catches up to Kurt and Santana in the parking lot.

“I’m sorry. He just pisses me off,” says Santana.

“What did he say to you?” asks Kurt.

“I lied and said that I told you guys me and him freshman year. He got pissed and threatened me.”

“Jesus.”

“Can you guys come home with me? I don’t want to be alone with him.”

“Of course,” says Kurt. They all get into the car and drive to Mercedes’.

……

They get to Mercedes’ and go to the living room.

“Anyone want some warm milk?” asks Kurt.

“Me,” answers Santana.

“Here. I’ll help,” says Mercedes.

Santana relaxes on the couch and sees something on the coffee table. “Mercy? Was this always sitting here?” she moves some magazines and Mercedes’ laptop is there.

“No. Bryce must have put it back before the game,” says Mercedes and she rushes over to the couch.

“Well, then why didn’t you notice it?” asks Santana.

“He left after me.” She sighs. “The video’s gone. And the trash has been emptied.”

“Surprise, surprise,” says Santana sarcastically.

“What’s this?” She clicks on a picture. “Oh, my god. It’s Quinn.”

“What?” asks Kurt. They all look at the picture.

“Watch your backs. I didn’t. Q.”

“That was taken in your yard the night she disappeared. She’s wearing the yellow top,” says Kurt.

“There’s a shadow right there like someone was following her. Mercy, you know who that is?” asks Santana.

“I--I have no idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Used: Thriller/Heads Will Roll (Glee Cast Version)


	8. The Girl in the Yellow Top

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry it took awhile getting this chapter out. I recently started a new job and was really busy. A little bit of a filler chapter, but it does contain fluff and drama. Enjoy!

* * *

The next morning, Kurt gets everyone up hella early to look at the picture.

“Where’s Bryce?” asks Santana as they trudge down the stairs.

“Don’t worry, he went to Columbus to be with Melissa,” answers Mercedes.

“I didn’t realize life existed at this hour.”

“Come on, guys, just walk. You need to see this,” says Kurt running over to Mercedes’ laptop and turning it on.

“I hoped my first sunrise would have tequila in it,” says Santana as she sits down at the island in the kitchen.

“I’ll make coffee,” announces Mercedes as she walks to the Keurig.

“Well, when it’s ready just pour it down my throat,” says Santana.

Mercedes sighs. “Kurt, I thought we were done looking at that. I mean, we know the shadow is Bryce, right?”

“You woke us up for this?” asks Santana begrudgingly.

“It’s important. I couldn’t let it go,” he says as he prints the picture and grabs it from the printer.

“Have you been up all night?” asks Mercedes.

“Maybe,” he answers shyly.

“You have. One eye is bigger than the other. You look like a strung-out Powerpuff Girl,” says Santana.

He sighs. “Just look at the picture.”

“Who’s having coffee?” asks Mercedes.

“I mean, there’s only one place where this picture could have been taken from,” says Kurt.

“Where?” asks Santana.

“Quinn’s bedroom,” he answers.

“No, Quinn’s is in the picture. She clearly didn’t take that.”

“Okay, but somebody in her house did.”

“Like who, her parents?”

“No. Her brother.”

“Elijah,” says Mercedes. “My mom ran into him at the bank. He’s back in town.”

“Why?” asks Santana.

“We have to call him,” says Kurt.

“Ew. I am not going to talk to him,” says Santana.

“I will,” says Mercedes. “We need to know if he took this.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The next day, before school, Mercedes finds Elijah jogging around the track with his shirt off so his delicious abs can glisten in the morning glow.

He sees her and jogs over to her. “Hey.”

“Hey, Elijah. I’m sorry to interrupt your workout. This can wait.” She starts to walk away.

“Really? Didn’t sound that way on the phone.”

She turns back around. “What are you doing back in town?”

“Just taking care of family business. So, what do we need to talk about?”

She pulls the picture from her pocket and gives it to him. “This was sent to me. It looks like it was taken from the 2nd floor of your house."

“Yeah. It does,” he says cynically. 

“So why do you sound not convinced?”

“Look, after Quinnie disappeared, we got bizarre things in the mail. Sympathy cards from strangers…and letters with conspiracy theories about what happened to her. Sometimes it was photos. Blurry images of a blond girl running away from the camera.”

“Yeah, but that’s definitely Quinn. And it’s my yard. It was taken the night she disappeared. She’s got the same yellow top on.”

“Mercedes, they have programs now that make Photoshop look like scissors and a glue stick.” He sighs. “Look, I’ll tell you what, my family hired a P.I. I’ll take the picture to him and see what he comes up with.”

“Okay.” She starts to walk away.

“Mercedes.”

She turns around. “Yes?”

“Quinn’s memorial was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I was an ass. I know that now and I’m sorry.”

“Well, that wasn’t the full term that I would have used, but it works,” she says with a smirk.

He smiles at her and she walks the rest of the way to school.

……

Kurt and Santana are at Santana’s locker talking when Mercedes gets to school.

Mercedes walks over to them. “Kurt. I forgot to give these to you last night.” She pulls out the tickets from her backpack.

“Thank you! Oh, I owe you big time.” They hug. “Are you sure your dad’s not gonna miss these?”

“Oh, please. He joined the museum board for networking. The man doesn’t know the difference between a Monet and a mojito.”

Kurt giggles. “How can I get you back?”

“Pay for the extra toppings on my pizza delivery?”

“Of course.”

“Oh. And a DVD rental. If I have to hole up in my room all night as your alibi, I would like to do it with Jake Gyllenhaal.”

“Wait. What alibi?” asks Santana. “Aren’t you both going to the museum?”

“No, um, Mercedes got the tickets for me and Blaine,” he answers.

“You’re taking Mr. Anderson?”

Kurt rolls his eyes. “I really wish you’d just call him Blaine. And yes, I’m taking him. He just doesn’t know it yet. It’s a surprise. I don’t know, I figured that a date out of town would give us a chance to actually have a date.”

“I get it. You guys do kind of have the social lives of shut-ins.”

“Thanks Santana,” he says sarcastically.

And they all walk to class.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

During lunch, Kurt goes to Blaine’s classroom to surprise him with the tickets.

“Hey.”

“Mr. Hummel, what can I do for you?” Blaine pointedly looks behind Kurt for him to notice that they’re not alone.

“Um…I was wondering if you could look over my reading assignment.”

“Perhaps this could wait until after the makeup test has been administered.”

Kurt starts unzipping his jacket. Sexily I might add. “Actually…it would be great if you could just review it now.” He unzips his jacket to reveal a beautiful tie for Blaine to wear on their date. It has a sticky note that says, _Wear me_. “So, I know I’m on the right track.”

Blaine’s eyes get all big as he watches Kurt and he whispers, “Okay.”

Kurt opens his notebook to the page where the ticket is taped and has the words, _Tomorrow night?_ written. “What do you think of my work so far?"

Blaine clears his throat. “Looks outstanding.” He closes the notebook and hands it back to Kurt.

“Great. Then I’ll turn it in at the end of the day.” He starts walking out of the room.

“Great,” Blaine whispers. He tries to go back to focusing on his work, but the excitement is too much.

……

Kurt meets up with Mercedes and Santana in the cafeteria.

“Hey, how’d it go?” asks Mercedes.

Kurt sits down next to Mercedes and gets a huge smile on his face. “Great. I unzipped my jacket like you said.” He leans in. “He really liked it.”

“All boys are the same. Just unzip something and they turn into a puddle.”

“So, what’re gonna wear?” asks Santana.

“I can’t decide between a red top or blue.”

“Go with red. Be bold,” answers Mercedes. “What do you think ‘Tana?”

Santana sees Paige walk by.

“About what?” She asks dazedly.

“What are you looking at?”

“It’s nothing. Just some bitch on the Cheerios who wants me to disappear.”

“What’s her name?” asks Mercedes.

“Paige Thompson.”

“What’d she say?” asks Kurt.

“Some bitchy comment about me being gay.”

“I will destroy her,” says Mercedes fired up.

“Hmm. Can I help?” asks Kurt.

“Guys, it’s okay. I took care of it. Anyone else thirsty? I’m gonna get a drink.” Santana pulls out her wallet and pulls out Paige’s gift in the process.

Kurt picks up the gift. “Who’s this from?” 

“Paige. Whatever it is, you can have it. She’s trying to bribe her way to becoming the team captain next year.”

Mercedes laughs. “Why didn’t you go to the meeting Kurt?”

“’Cuz I’m not gonna cheer next year. After Sue tried blow Brittany out of a canon, that’s where I drew the line.” He opens the gift and sees it’s the same type of bracelet like Quinn’s. “Do you think they’re from the same place?”

“It’s possible. The store owner could tell us who bought the Quinn bracelet,” says Santana.

“And we would know who Q is,” says Kurt.

“There’s only one way to find out,” says Mercedes and she writes down the store.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

“Chamberlain employed a policy where concessions were made to avoid war,” says Carole as she lectures. “It didn’t and when the territory was annexed, Hitler’s aggression only increased. Would anybody like to share their thoughts on why appeasement did not work?”

Mercedes raises her hand.

“Mercedes.”

“Because giving in to a bully never works,” answers Mercedes.

“Can you elaborate on that?”

“Even if you give them everything that they ask for, it’ll never be enough. Your only choice is to stand up to them. Even if it costs you something.”

The bell rings.

“Very nice. Okay, people, please do not race me towards the door, it hurts my feelings. Term paper is next week. Don’t forget!”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Kurt walks up to Blaine’s door, impeccably dressed, and buzzes the intercom.

There’s no answer so he buzzes again.

He pulls out his phone and calls Blaine while Blaine pulls up in limo behind Kurt.

“Hello?” answers Blaine.

“Hey. Where are you?” asks Kurt.

“You look hot.”

Kurt turns around to see Blaine in the limo. He laughs. “I thought we were taking the train.”

“I know you had your heart set on being coughed on by commuters, but…”

“So, this is what a real date with Blaine Anderson looks like. Damn.”

“You know you can hang up now.” 

Kurt giggles and hangs up the phone. And he gets into the limo where he promptly kisses Blaine sweetly.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After school, Santana gets called down to Sue’s office. She knocks on the door. “I got a message you wanted to see me?”

“Yes…”

“Hey Coach,” says Paige when she walks in. She sees Santana and Santana gives her the bitchiest look.

“Have a seat, girls.” They have a seat. “An incident involving a homophobic comment has been brought to my attention. Now, on my squad, I have a zero-tolerance policy…”

“Coach, whatever happened between us, it’s over now,” says Santana.

“I need to know what happened, and then I’ll decide if it’s over, Boobs Magoo.”

“There’s really nothing to talk about,” says Santana trying to end the conversation.

Sue sighs. “In that case, you can go, Paige.” She turns to Santana. “Sandbags, if you don’t tell me what happened, there’s nothing I can do to help you.”

“With all due respect Coach, I really don’t want your help.” She grabs her bag and storms out of Sue’s office.


	9. The Watcher at the Window

* * *

Mercedes walks into her living room with a pizza box in hand and Elijah’s chillin’ on the couch. “Elijah?”

“Sorry. Your mom let me in. She said I could wait for you here.”

She walks over to the counter and puts the box down. “So, what did your private investigator say?”

“Well, the picture is real. And for all I know, I may have taken it.”

“What do you mean you may have taken it?”

“I honestly don’t remember. I’m not proud of it, but that whole August is a blur. I was high for most of it.”

“You were?”

“Are you surprised?”

“Well, it’s just to me you were always Quinn’s strange older brother. I mean, we never saw you. You were always behind a closed door.”

“Yeah. Getting high with a bunch of losers. You remember that phony your sister used to date?”

“Bryce Thomas?”

He nods. “We partied that whole summer. After he broke up with your sister, he practically lived at my house.”

“But Bryce’s a triathlete. He’s the poster boy for preppy.”

“Poster boy by day and party boy by night. Convincing, isn’t he?” He looks at his watch. “I’ve gotta go, but if find anything else…”

“I’ll let you know.”

He nods and walks to the front door.

……

A little while later, Santana’s over at Mercedes’ eating the pizza with her and telling her what Elijah said.

“Damn. I can’t believe Bryce spent that summer in Quinn’s house.”

“Watching Quinn.”

“I’m officially weirded out.”

“Well, can you be weirded out and eat at the same time? Faster?”

“Why do we have to eat dinner at 4:30 like we're old geezers?”

“Because this appointment is at 5:00 and it’s far away. I don’t know how long we’re gonna be there. We know what happens when my blood sugar drops.”

“Okay, but why do I have to eat?”

“Oh. I guess you don’t.” She starts putting the extra pizza away.

“Why’d you have to make an appointment for a bead shop?”

“This shop is at her house. It sounds like she makes dream catchers in her kitchen.” She looks down and sees Santana’s last piece. “You sure you don’t want that?”

“I’m stuffed. If I eat any more, I’ll be needing two dance partners in glee club.”

“Hey, what happened with Coach Sylvester?”

“What do you mean?”

“She called you down, didn’t she?

“How do you know?”

“Because I told her what happened between you and Paige.”

“What? Why would you do that?”

“That girl has been bullying people since middle school and she needs to be put in her place.”

“She was. By me. When it happened.”

“Why are you so mad? I didn’t think you’d care. I thought you were fine with people knowing you and Dani were a couple.”

“I am. I don’t give a shit if Sylvester knows I’m gay. If I wanted her to know what Paige had said I would have told her myself. I’m not some helpless little bitch.”

“I know, but you’re one of my best friends and I didn’t want her to get away with it.”

“Well, I can stand up for myself.”

“You never did with Quinn.” Mercedes’ words catches her by surprise. “Shit…”

“Thank you for making sure my feelings didn’t get hurt.”

“'Tana, I’m s…”

“No, I have to go. I just remembered I have a test tomorrow.” She grabs her stuff and heads for the door.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Kurt and Blaine walk out of the exhibit.

“Sorry, I just needed a breath of fresh air,” says Blaine.

“It’s fine,” replies Kurt.

“Can’t believe the artist is a no-show.”

“Right? If somebody threw me a party with champagne and crab cakes to celebrate my work, I think I’d try and stop by.”

“Yeah. If it were my work, I’d show up if people put out folding chairs and sweaty cheese,” Blaine chuckles.

“Well, plus, I’d be there.”

“True. Are you, uh, disappointed that the artist didn’t show up?”

“No. The only person I cared about seeing is here.” He tries to hand Blaine’s hand, but Blaine pulls away.

“I’m sorry. For a second I forgot I was…”

“Not in Lima?” Blaine nods. “It’s okay. Me too. When I first saw the limo, I thought I was gonna have to ride in the trunk.”

"Not tonight." And he pulls Kurt into a passionate kiss.

“Yeah. I could get used to this.”

He kisses Kurt one more time. “Ready for more culture?”

“Lead the way.” And they both walk back into the exhibit. 

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Mercedes arrives to the Bead Lady’s house and sees that organization isn’t her strong suit. She wonders if she would be able to get any information from her.

“Well, I know it’s in here somewhere. Ha, ha.” The Bead Lady sees her records book. “Oh, here it is. Ha, ha. Oh, I have wonderful earrings to match those, dear.”

“Thanks, but I just came here to find out who bought these two bracelets.” She pulls out he bracelets.

“Oh, well, let me see.” The Bead Lady examines the bracelets. “Well, I can tell you, these bracelets were made within the last six months. I changed vendors. People were complaining about the clasps.”

“You do keep records, right?”

“Yes, dear. I’m trying, but as you can see I’m a little better at beading than organizing.”

“Please, it’s important to me.”

The Bead Lady looks through her book. “Wait a minute. Oh. Oh, here it is.”

Mercedes gets a smile on her face. “You found it?”

“Yes. Now, these two were purchased by a Mercedes Jones. Does that help, dear?”

Mercedes gets a shocked look on her face. 

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Kurt is walking in the hallway when he sees Carole and walks in step with her.

“Hey Carole,” greets Kurt.

“Hey, I was just gonna text you, sweetheart.”

“Why? What’s up?”

“I was wondering what you were doing after school. And hoping you might wanna go clothes shopping with me.”

“Sure! Why the sudden urge to splurge?”

“I just think it’s time we upgraded a little. So how was your sleepover at Mercedes’?”

“Oh, you know. The usual. Chick flick, popcorn, Cosmo quiz, lights out. How about you?”

“Me and your father actually had a date night.”

“Oh, yeah? What’d you do?”

“I dragged your father to see hear this book reading in Columbus.”

Kurt’s heart stops. “What?”

“Yeah, they paired it with a new Lima Bean opening in Columbus.”

“You went last night?”

“Yeah. I know, us partying on a school night. We’re out of control, but it was great, it was really exciting to meet the author. So anyhow, um, I have to get to class and so do you, so meet me in my office after.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Later that day, Mercedes is sitting on her bed looking at the picture of Quinn.

**Flashback**

The night Quinn disappears, her and Mercedes and are in Mercedes’ living room arguing about Melissa.

“Keep your voice down,” stresses Mercedes.

“Why? Nobody’s home,” replies Quinn.

“Well, not yet, but Melissa could come home any minute.”

“Good. I want her to.”

“Why are you making me do this? Why do you care if she knows?”

“I’m not making you do anything. I’m telling you, by tomorrow morning, Melissa will know everything and there’s nothing you can do about it except let her hear it from you first.”

“Fine. I’ll tell her. You win. But this is it, because I am sick of your games. We all are.” She starts walking to toward the stairs.

Quinn pulls her back. “Trying to get me voted off the island? Honey, I am the island.”

“Well, I don’t think you’ll have much of a choice.”

“I made you, Mercedes. I made all of you. Before me, you were some goody-goody who did whatever mommy and daddy told her.”

“You are so full of yourself. You think just because you brought us together you can treat us like puppets?”

“But you are. Don’t you see that?” Quinn gets in her face. “You don’t exist without me.”

“Really, Quinn? Then tell me this: What is a leader without any followers? Because it seems to me the question isn’t whether we will exist without you, but whether you will exist without us. And as far I’m concerned, you are dead to me already.”

Quinn storms out the back door. Mercedes starts going upstairs, but stops herself and follows Quinn.

**Flashback Ends**

Now, Kurt and Santana are in Mercedes’ room and Mercedes just told them the shocking news.

“So, the shadow in the picture isn’t Bryce, it’s you?” asks Kurt.

Mercedes sniffles. “Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell us before?” asks Santana.

“I don’t know. I guess that I was scared. This is gonna sound crazy, but I think that I didn’t tell you because there was always a part of me that wondered if it was my fault. I mean, I wished it, then it came true.”

“Mercy, you didn’t mean it. It was something you said in the heat of the moment,” says Kurt.

“Besides, Quinn said stuff to us that was ten times worse,” says Santana.

Mercedes starts looking out her window and sees a figure watching them. She gets up from her bed to have a closer look.

“Mercedes?” asks Kurt. Him and Santana follow her.

“Oh, my God,” says Kurt.

“Is that...?” starts Santana.

“It’s Elijah,” says Mercedes as they all see him staring at them from Quinn's room.


	10. The Heart Catcher

* * *

The next morning, the friends are over at Santana’s house getting ready for school, after getting too freaked out to stay at Mercedes’. Santana’s packing up her school bag, Kurt’s on her bed reading Vogue, and Mercedes is looking out the window.

“Is my Chem book over there?” asks Santana to Mercedes.

“Uh, I don’t see it,” answers Mercedes.

“It’s probably in the room, Mercy, not the front yard,” says Kurt looking up from his magazine.

“What happened to the Karofsky’s mailbox? Somebody hit it?” asks Mercedes.

Kurt gets up from the bed and joins Mercedes at the window.

“It’s not the first time, and I’m sure it wasn’t an accident. Every time I come home, Karofsky’s out there cleaning up some new mess,” answers Santana.

Kurt looks at Mercedes. “Please don’t say he deserves it.”

“I wasn’t gonna say that.” Mercedes looks underneath a chair. “Is that it?

“Thanks,” says Santana. She goes to get it.

“Do you still think that somebody framed him?” asks Mercedes as she continues looking out the window.

“Do we really wanna have this fight right now?” asks Kurt. “We have to save up some energy for glee club.”

“I’m not blaming him anymore, Kurt. I mean, I know what it feels like to have somebody say that you did something when you know that you didn’t.”

“Are you talking about the bracelets?” asks Santana.

“I’d never seen that bead lady before that day, and yet she had my name written down on two sales receipts,” says Mercedes. “I know what it feels like for someone to say you did something you know you didn’t do it.”

Kurt looks at his phone. “We should go. We’re gonna be late.”

“I owe you an apology,” says Mercedes. “Seriously, you believed that he was innocent and I jumped down your throat. I said some really heinous things about David.”

“You should apologize to him, not me,” replies Kurt. And they all leave Santana’s house, on their way to school.

……

“Oh! I forgot to tell you guys last night, my parents were in Columbus the same night Blaine and I were there for our date,” says Kurt as they walk into school.

“What?!” asks Mercedes.

“How did you find out?” asks Santana.

“Carole was asking about having a shopping trip with me then asked about our ‘sleepover’, Mercedes. Then I asked her about her evening with Dad and that’s when she told me.”

“Damn,” says Mercedes as she walks up to her locker and opens it.

“And get this, they were literally down the street from me.”

“Are you kidding?” asks Santana.

“Apparently, there was a new Lima Bean opening and they celebrated it with a book reading.”

“Bitch, you’re lucky you didn’t get caught,” says Santana.

“I know! It’s too freaky. What if Q says something?”

“Don’t go there,” says Mercedes. “As soon as we talk about it, it’ll happen. We need as much good mojo as we can get right now.”

Carole comes up to them in the hallway. “Hey guys.”

“Hi Carole,” greets all three of them.

“Your ears must’ve been burning,” says Carole.

“Why?” asks Kurt.

“I was just talking to Principal Figgins about you and Mr. Anderson.”

All the air is sucked out of the room.

Kurt clears his throat. “Why?”

“Well, he wants to take you guys to Columbus to see the Fitzgerald show, but the Principal Figgins told him there was no money.”

“Oh, well that’s too bad.”

The bell rings.

“Oh! Gotta get to class, but we still on for our shopping trip?” asks Carole.

Kurt puts on a fake smile. “Definitely.”

“Great!” She starts to walk away. “And Mercedes and Santana, you’re more than welcome to join.”

“Thank you, Carole. We’ll be there,” says Mercedes.

“Great! Saturday afternoon.” She walks away to class.

“Okay. This shit is too freaky.”

They walk into glee club and take a seat.

“All right, guys. I have one word for you,” says Mr. Shue as he writes on the board.

Brittany raises her hand.

“Brittany.”

“Is it ‘love’? I’m totally gonna graduate now!” she exclaims to Artie.

“Valentine’s Day is comin’ up, so for this week’s lesson I want you guys to pick a partner because you’re gonna sing to them what you think is the world’s greatest love song.”

There are some groans from the class.

“Yeah. Find a song that communicates all the things that love means to you. Now, partner up.”

“Mr. Shue? Can I say something?” asks Finn. He walks up to the front of the class. “I just wanted to point out that, for the first time an entire week has gone by without any one of us getting slushied.”

There’s applause from the glee club.

“I think the fact that I led the football team to a Conference Championship might have something to do with it. Fact is that I’m the closest thing that this glee club has to a celebrity right now and, just like a famous athlete, I wanna give to a charity. You guys. So, with permission from Rachel, I’m setting up a kissing booth for a dollar a smooch and donating the proceeds to glee club to help us.”

“Don’t even act like you’re trying to help this glee club out,” says Mercedes. “You just want your ‘street cred’ back.”

“I’ve kissed Finn, and can I just say, not worth a buck. I would, however, pay $100 to jiggle one of his man boobs,” says Santana.

“Do you ever get tired of tearing other people down?” asks Finn.

“No, not really. Especially when you’re trying to go after my girl.”

“What?” says Finn, trying to be shocked.

“Oh, please. I’ve seen the look in your eyes the past couple of weeks. You’re not fooling anyone. I’m honestly surprised Rachel’s letting you do this.”

“You’re such a bitch,” says Rachel.

“Whoa, whoa,” says Mr. Shue trying to intervene.

“Okay. I’m sorry your boyfriend has eyes for another girl.”

“Tana! Can we not talk about this?” asks Mercedes trying to stop the conversation.

“Hey! No more conversation about this. Right now, we need to focus on the assignment. Finn, thanks for the idea, but let's do fundraising when we're a little closer to Nationals.”

The bell rings.

“See you guys later,” says Mr. Shue dismissing them.

“Did you really need to bring that up?” asks Mercedes to Santana.

“Look, Hobbit needed to be put in her place. And I wasn’t lying. I did her a favor.”

“Okay, but we still don’t know who Q is. The more enemies we make, the worse it’ll be,” says Kurt.

“It’ll be bad no matter what we do,” replies Santana.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

As they’re walking to their next class, Mercedes and Kurt see a flyer hanging in the hall, asking for a tutor in French 3.

“You know who that’s for, don’t you?” asks Mercedes.

“David?” asks Kurt.

“Yeah, he’s on lockdown now that football's over and the trial’s coming up,” she explains.

He takes a number.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“I might be interested.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“I’m just helping out a friend.”

“I know we all pseudo made up after the Championship game, but I don’t want you to send him mixed signals.”

“I won’t. I’ll lay down the law.”

“But he doesn’t trust us. He doesn’t trust anyone anymore.”

“Maybe, but if I have one piece of the puzzle and he has another, then we can put it together and maybe help each other.” 

“Okay. I trust you.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After school, Kurt goes over to Karofsky’s to start his tutoring. He picks up the mail from the ground as he walks up to the door. He knocks and Karofsky answers.

“Hi. I--I noticed this was on the ground as I was walking up.” Karofsky takes the mail and starts to close the door. “Wait, I’m here to tutor you. Someone from the school called to tell you, didn’t they?”

“Why you?” asks Karofsky. “I think it’s best that we stay away from each other.”

Karofsky tries to close the door again, but Kurt stops him.

“I’m in A.P. French and I volunteered. Look, I have all your assignments and I worked out a schedule for the rest of the semester. If we meet for three times a week, we can—"

“You can’t come in. My parents are home and you and your friends are not their favorite people.”

“Okay. Well, is there somewhere else we can go?

“I--I can’t go somewhere else,” Karofsky says while pointing to his ankle bracelet.

“Well, will your parents mind if we sit out here on the porch?”

Karofsky shrugs and they sit on the porch. 

……

“I brought you something,” says Kurt as they finish up their lesson. He hands him a book.

“L’attrape-coeurs. _The Heart Catcher_?” asks Karofsky.

“It’s _Catcher in the Rye_. I guess there’s no literal translation, but it helps to read a book you already know in English.”

“How do you know I’ve read it?”

“I saw you once…at the Lima Bean. You were reading it.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Uh, Mrs. Hagberg wants you to review the conditional tense and the workbook--"

“What do you want?” Karofsky asks in a demanding voice.

“What makes you think that I want something?”

“Because you never do anything without a reason.”

Kurt sighs. “I think maybe you’re being framed.”

“What changed your mind?”

“I think somebody might be trying to do the same thing to Mercedes. Maybe the same person.”

“How does she feel about that?”

“Not good. Scary.”

“Why would somebody go after Mercedes? What makes her so important?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe she knows something she’s not supposed to know.”

“Well, every time we think we know something, we get the rug pulled out from under us, and we end up on our asses.” Kurt clears his throat. "The sweater with Quinn’s blood…you said that you gave it to her that night.”

Karofsky starts to get uncomfortable. “I did.”

“And then she got into a car with some guy.”

“I couldn’t see who it was.” Karofsky starts whispering. “I’m not supposed to talk about this.”

“Do you know how the sweater could’ve gotten back into your house?”

The window is banged closed.

“Uh, I have to go. Thanks for the book.” Karofsky quickly packs up his things and goes in to the house.

“Yeah, you’re welcome.” Kurt zips up his bag and leaves the Karofsky house.


	11. Home Basketball Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated in a little over a week, but work gets in the way sometimes. Hope you all enjoy!

* * *

After the tutoring session, Mercedes and Kurt are at Santana’s and Mercedes is helping her with her homework. And Kurt is thinking about Karofsky.

“What are your thoughts on genetic modification?” asks Santana.

“Aren’t scientists playing God?” answers Mercedes. “How will it affect human health in the long term?”

“So, I’m against it,” surmises Santana.

“He’s different,” says Kurt.

“How?” asks Mercedes.

“I meant, he’s different than I thought he would be.”

“How have humans altered the genomes of species for thousands of years?” asks Santana.

“Through artificial selection,” answers Mercedes.

“There’s something about him that’s…I don’t know," says Kurt

“Wow. A question Kurt Hummel can’t answer? Interesting," says Mercedes.

“It’s not that interesting."

Mercedes laughs. “Am I finished with your homework?” she asks Santana.

“You are,” answers Santana. “Thanks,” she closes her book.

He sighs and sits up. “I keep trying to find a connection.”

“To Karofsky?” questions Mercedes.

“I mean, we know he didn’t do it. And yet somebody found a way to make him look extremely guilty.”

“Kurt, you can’t figure all that out sitting on his porch, conjugating verbs”

“Well, you don’t know what those verbs are.”

“Yes, he explained before, but he probably can’t talk about it now,” says Santana.

“Are you sure he even wants you to come back?” asks Mercedes.

He smiles a little. “Yeah, I think he does.”

“Just promise us you won’t fall for him.”

“No! No, no, no. I like Blaine. I mean, I more than like him.”

Mercedes sits up. “Did you and Blaine drop the ‘L’ word?”

Kurt blushes in response.

“Oh, my god! You did!”

“Way to go Prancy Smurf,” says Santana.

“Thanks.”

“So…how did it happen?” asks Mercedes.

And Kurt tells them the story of how him and Blaine said “I love you” to each other.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The next day, after school, is a home basketball game. Now that Finn, Sam and Puck are on the team, the friends decide to go and cheer them on.

“Titans! Listen up!” yells Bryce.

The team gathers around.

“Now, I know we haven’t had good season in past years, but this team is gonna change that!”

The team cheers in response.

“So, let’s go out there and make this school proud!”

The team cheers again.

“Put your hands in.”

They put their hands in.

“On three!”

“One, two, three…Titans!” shouts the team.

……

Outside the gym, Mercedes is in line with Kurt and Santana at the snack bar.

“Are you gonna be okay, Mercy?” asks Santana.

“Yeah. As long as Bryce doesn’t speak to me.”

“What about Melissa?” asks Kurt.

Mercedes shakes her head. “I don’t know. I wanna be there for her, but she makes it hard when she does stupid things like get back together with the compulsive liar Bryce.”

“So, marrying Bryce was stupid?” asks Melissa who heard their conversation. “What’s going on between you and him?”

Mercedes starts walking away. “Why don’t you ask him?”

“What was that lying crack about? He does nothing but try with you, Mercedes. When are you gonna give him a break?”

“Honestly? When I figure out why he rushed back to Lima and rushed into proposing to you.”

“No, you’ve got it wrong. I proposed. I wanted to elope. You have a problem with my marriage, you take it up with me, not him.”

“Well, he is the problem. He’s not been entirely honest with you, and I’m worried.”

“About what?”

“You have to ask him about Quinn, about what happened the summer that she was killed.”

Melissa scoffs. “You really are too much. Did Karofsky put that idea into you and your friends’ head?”

“You really are that naïve, aren’t you?”

“Look, I’ve already lost one relationship because of you. You will not ruin my marriage, too!” She takes a breath. “Now, I’m gonna go into the gym and support my husband.” She walks into the gym.

Kurt and Santana walk over to her with their snacks in hand.

“You okay?” asks Kurt.

“I’m fine. As long as I’m at least 100 yards away from Melissa.”

……

It’s now nearing the end of the second quarter of the second half and the Titans are up by 2.

Bryce huddles the team. “Now, no matter what the score ends up being, I’m proud of you nonetheless. In years past, we would’ve never been up by 2, but you did it by working together.”

“We have an awesome coach!” cheers Sam.

The team cheers with him.

“Alright, alright! Now, go out there and win! Put your hands in.”

They put their hands in.

“On three!”

“One, two, three…Titans!” shouts the team.

The boys go back onto the court.

“Go Sam!” yells Mercedes from the stands.

He turns to see her and give her a smile while Finn’s looking a little jealous.

With 15 seconds left, they know they can win this! As the other team passes the ball, Sam snatches it and runs down the court. He gets to the three-point line and sends the ball flying. The ball perfectly swishes through the net. They did it! They won! The crowd cheers and the players are jumping up and down.

Sam frees himself from the commotion and finds Mercedes and wraps his arms around her. “You need to come to every game.”

She smiles “And why is that?”

“You’re my good luck charm.” They kiss sweetly.

Finn, who’s with Rachel, is trying not to look at them.

“Hey, you wanna come back to my place?” asks Rachel.

“No, I’m, uh, a little tired. Can take a raincheck?”

“Of course,” smiles Rachel sadly.

He walks away and Rachel turns to look at Sam and Mercedes with a pissed off look.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After the game, Kurt goes over to Karofsky’s to talk to him about his cryptic message. He knocks on the door and Karofsky answers.

He cracks open the door. “Hey.”

“Hi, I got your message, but I didn’t totally understand.”

“This isn’t going to work.” Karofsky hands back the book. “Here, take it back.”

“David, I came here because I thought that we could help each other.”

“We can’t. Just take it and go.” He slams the door in Kurt’s face and Kurt walks away sadly.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After having dinner at Sam’s house, Mercedes is dropped off at home. She sees Melissa in the living room. “Good night,” she says and starts going up stairs.

“Wait, Mercedes. Can we talk about earlier?”

“No. It’s late, and I’m tired.” She keeps walking up the stairs.

“I know about you and Bryce.” Mercedes stops. “He told me everything-- the thing you two had when we were broken up. I can’t hold that against you.”

Mercedes heads back down the stairs. “Did he tell you anything else about that summer?”

“Whatever it is you’re holding onto, it’s got to stop.”

“I think he’s dangerous.”

“And I think you need help. You keep wanting what I have.”

“You know what, Melissa…”

“Mercedes, I don’t want to fight. I realize that I lost my temper earlier, and I’m sorry. I’ve been a little hormonal lately, and I guess I should tell you.”

Mercedes sighs. “Tell me what?”

“We’re pregnant.”

Mercedes is stunned. She can’t say anything. She’s too confused to say anything.

“This is where you say, ‘congratulations’.”

Mercedes still doesn’t say anything.

Melissa sighs. “Good night, sis.” She heads out the back door with Mercedes looking after her on the verge of tears. 


	12. Morse Code

* * *

The next night, Kurt and Santana are over at Mercedes’ and she’s telling them that Melissa’s pregnant.

“Your sister’s pregnant? How’d that happen?” asks Santana.

“I figure pretty much the usual way.”

“It’s not really a ‘how’ question, it’s more of a ‘why’ question,” says Kurt.

“Well, I mean, I guess Melissa could have gone all maternal, but I doubt it.”

“This is so creepy."

“Where are they now?” asks Santana.

“Columbus. Shopping.” Mercedes grabs _The Heart Catcher_ from her bedside table and pulls out the piece of paper that’s wedged in the book. There’s three inscriptions on the paper. “What do you think this means?”

Kurt shrugs. “I don’t know, but David wanted us to have it.”

“It looks like it’s in Morse code so…” She looks up the Morse code letters on Google. “Okay. The first letter’s a ‘B.’” Looks at the code again. “‘A.’ It’s an ‘A’.”

“Think it’s gonna tell us who Q is?” asks Kurt.

“'D’,” says Mercedes. “B-A-D. ‘Bad.’ That’s the whole message? ‘Bad?’”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“It means you got punked,” says Santana. “Karofsky doesn’t trust us and I don’t blame him.”

He shakes his head. “No, I don’t think he’d mess with us like this."

“You’d be surprised what people are capable of."

“You guys, we have to figure this out. This might be a joke, but it could be something real. Either way, Karofsky’s not the enemy,” says Mercedes.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The next day at school, Blaine is talking to a group of teachers in the cafeteria, Carole included.

“It was a silent auction, and a private book signing and coffee with the author,” says Blaine.

“I really liked his early work, that book about the teacher in Newark,” says Mrs. Bletheim

“So, do you want coffee with Leonard Adams and an autographed book?” asks Blaine.

“Count me in,” says Mrs. Bletheim excitedly.

“What was the name of the Newark book?” asks Carole.”

“ _Loose Leaf_ ,” Blaine answers.

“That was good, wasn’t it?”

“Well, why don’t you come with us, Carole?” asks Mrs. Bletheim. She turns to Blaine. “How many people can you bring?”

“As…as many as I want.”

“Well, come with us, Carole.”

She smiles. “All right, I will.”

…

At the same time, Kurt and Mercedes are sitting at table talking about last night.

“You know, Santana might be right about this. Karofsky does have every reason to give us a hard time,” says Mercedes.

“I suppose, but that’s just not the feeling that I got from talking to him,” says Kurt. “Do you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Santana walks over to them and sits down. “Hey. So, what’s with you and Finn?”

“What?” asks Mercedes.

“Homeboy is still hung up on you.”

Mercedes shrugs. “I don’t know, but he’s wasting his time. He should be focused on Rachel, not pining after me. Besides, I have a boyfriend.”

“I would just watch your back. I caught him staring at you and Sam after the basketball game and Rachel seemed pretty jealous.”

“If she has a problem, she has to talk to Finn ‘cuz I’m not getting in the middle of it.”

“Cedes, you are in the middle of it.” She turns to Kurt. “So, what about you and Sean?”

Kurt looks at her confusingly. “What do you mean?”

“I heard he’s back.”

“Who cares? He shouldn’t have come in between me and Blaine. I doubt he’s gonna come back to glee club.”

“To be honest, I’m surprised Nick’s still there,” says Mercedes. “Think he’s gonna try to apologize?”

“If he does, I’m gonna ignore him. I’m never speaking to him again.”

…

A parent comes marching up to the teacher table. “I’m looking for Mrs. Hagberg,” says the parent in a harsh tone.

“Is she expecting you?” asks Blaine.

“She’s is avoiding me. That’s what she’s doing.”

Blaine gets up from his seat. “Are you a parent?”

“Yes, I’m a parent. Paula Karofsky. My son is David Karofsky.”

Blaine clears his throat. “I had your son in English comp. I’m Blaine Anderson.” He holds his hand out.

She ignores his handshake. “Mrs. Hagberg.”

“Why don’t we walk down to the principal’s office and see if we can’t find Mrs. Hagberg.”

“I’ve seen the principal, and all I got was a lot of politically correct double-talk about them sending a tutor that’s the gay boy and his friends that landed him in jail.”

Carole gets up from her seat. “I don’t know what you’re insinuating Mrs. Karofsky, but my son was just trying help out your son.”

Mrs. Karofsky gets in Carole’s face. “I think you know exactly what I’m saying.”

Blaine gets in between them. “From what I know, Mr. Hummel was the only one who volunteered to help your son, Mrs. Karofsky.”

“My son and family were publicly humiliated! And I will not let this school do that further.”

“You’re in a cafeteria, Mrs. Karofsky, filled with kids trying to have lunch. I don’t think that's the audience you want, is it?”

Mrs. Karofsky does a lead the way motion and Carole look at her with a death glare as she walks away.

…

Mercedes puts her arm around Kurt. “I’m sorry she said that.”

“I don’t care. Now I know why Karofsky was so scared when I went over there.”

“His mom is a big old bitch. And _I’m_ saying that,” says Santana.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After school, Burt comes to visit Carole.

“So, you can’t make it to any of the teacher conferences?” asks Carole.

“I can do them, I just need to reschedule them for tomorrow,” answers Burt.

“You don’t have to see all of them. You should meet Finn's English teacher, Mrs. Bletheim and oh, are you going to meet Blaine?”

“Blaine?”

“Blaine Anderson, Kurt's English teacher. He's crazy about him, and I can see why. He’s very smart, he’s attractive, sensitive.”

“Does he also play guitar?”

“Uh, not that I know of, but he does know how to handle a loose cannon. Today Paula Karofsky showed up.”

“As in…”

“The same one, with the very same paranoia. She launched into the gay agenda about Kurt tutoring Karofsky right there in the cafeteria. Blaine totally calmed the waters, completely defused the situation. It was something to see.”

“I’m sorry I missed that.”

“You should meet him. You’ll like him.”

“I definitely will as soon as I teach Paula a lesson about going after our kids.”

“Burt, honey, don’t embarrass our children.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After school, Kurt tempts fate and goes over to Karofsky’s house. Karofsky is walking out of his house when Kurt gets out of his car.

“David? Can I talk to you a second?”

“I can’t talk. Something’s up with the D.A. The lawyer’s driving me over to my dad’s office.” He keeps walking towards the lawyer’s car.

Kurt stops him. “Just tell me…was that supposed to be a joke? Were you just trying to get back at me and my friends? Because if you were…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m talking about what I found in my book. The Morse code that you wanted us to have.”

He shakes his head. “That was no joke.”

“'Bad’? The whole message was ‘BAD.’ What does that mean? Am I supposed to go buy an old Michael Jackson album?”

“You’re reading it wrong. I can’t do this now.” He finishes walking to the car and turns around. “Come back Saturday morning. My parents will be out.”

Kurt nods and walks back to his car. His phone beeps. _His parents already hate you, why make it worse? -- Q_

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Later that night, Kurt and Mercedes are on the phone.

“What happened with Karofsky?” asks Mercedes.

“He says we have what he wanted us to have,” answers Kurt. “It’s the right message, we’re just reading it wrong. He wants me to come back Saturday.”

“Are you going?”

“If I don’t, how are we gonna figure this out?”

Mercedes hears sirens blare in the background. “Where are you?”

Kurt starts getting nervous. “What do you mean? I’m right next door.”

She hears them again. “Any fire truck you can hear at your house I can hear at mine.” She gasps. “Oh, my God…are you in his apartment?” Kurt doesn’t answer. “Are you on the bed?”

He immediately gets off the bed and goes into the living room. “No. I’m not on the bed.”

“Is he there?”

“N-not exactly.”

“Is he taking a shower?” she asks in a low voice.

He rolls his eyes. “He’s getting take-out for dinner.”

“And this call’s becoming very 1-900. ‘To talk to a hot English teacher, press 3.’”

“Call ending now. Tomorrow?”

“Yeah, tomorrow.”

They hang up as Blaine walks through the door.

“Hey,” greets Kurt.

“Hey. Sorry it took so long.” He sets the take-out bag on the table.

“It’s okay.” Kurt starts unpacking them.

“Looks like Thai Jasmine has been discovered. Big crowd at the take-out counter.” He clears his throat. “I meet your dad tomorrow.”

“I know,” Kurt says nonchalantly.

“I was thinking this is gonna be a bit more complex than the usual parent-teacher discussion. I mean, I can see your step-mom as a colleague, she’s safe. But your dad is your dad. Which is complex."

“You’ll like him, he’ll like you. Just be your normal incredible self.” He kisses Blaine and they sit down for dinner.


	13. Parent-Teacher Conferences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Paula Karofsky is played by Nathalie Boltt

* * *

The next day, after school, Blaine is sitting down with Burt for their parent-teacher conference.

“Kurt does a great deal of independent reading. You can see he’s excited by the idea of fiction. It’s one of the things that makes him such a good student.”

“That’s great. And what about Finn?”

“He, uh, he struggled at first, but he’s actually getting a B right now.”

Burt smiles. “I knew he had it in him.” He clears his throat. “So, Carole told me about what happened with Paula Karofsky.”

“Yes, I’m so sorry that Carole and Kurt had to see that.”

“I just wanted to thank you for handling the situation. And definitely better than I would’ve.”

“It was no problem Mr. Hummel. Paula Karofsky was way out of line. Especially when Kurt was doing something so selfless for her son.”

“Please, call me Burt. And don’t I know it. Sometimes I fear that Kurt will get himself in trouble, because of how selfless he is.”

“Well, I hope that never happens.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The friends are currently having the shopping spree with Carole.

“When are you supposed to see Karofsky?” whispers Mercedes to Kurt.

“Tomorrow, while his parents are out.”

“How do you think it’s gonna go?” asks Santana.

He shrugs. “Hopefully he gives me the answers we need in order to figure out who Q is.”

Carole walks over to them holding a shirt. “What about this for you Mercedes?”

She starts smiling. “That’s perfect Carole!” She takes the shirt.

“Well after living under the same roof as Kurt, you learn a few things.”

They giggle.

“I’m gonna go try it on.” She walks to a dressing room.

“I wonder how the parent-teacher conference with Dad and Mr. Anderson is going,” says Kurt.

“I think it’s going well. Especially after what he did for you in the cafeteria. Your father will love him. I promise.”

“I hope so.”

“Why are you nervous?”

“No reason.”

Santana gives him a “bitch, please” look.

He ignores her. “It’s just that I actually like this teacher and I know that Dad can be very intimidating.”

“I wouldn’t worry, honey.”

Mercedes comes out of the dressing room. “Okay, what do we think?”

Carole smiles. “You look beautiful, honey.”

“Totally hot,” says Santana.

“Honestly, if I wasn’t gay, I would marry you.”

Mercedes laughs. “Thanks guys.”

“Okay,” says Carole. “Does every have all the clothes they wanna buy?”

“I do,” says Santana.

“I do,” says Kurt.

“I’m good,” Mercedes.

“Then let’s go.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After the shopping trip, Kurt goes over to Blaine’s.

He walks into the door. “So, how did it go?” He sits on the couch next to Blaine.

“It went well. Don’t know why I was so nervous.”

Kurt smiles. “I told you. But I do have to admit, when I was on the shopping trip, I was getting anxious.”

Blaine smiles. “Why?”

“Because I don’t want my dad hating the guy I love.”

“You know, that was the hardest thing I had to do.”

“What?”

“Pretend that I wasn’t in love with you.”

“Now you know how it feels when I’m in class.”

Blaine leans over and kisses Kurt. “I love you, Kurt.”

“I love you, too.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After the trip, Mercedes goes over to Sam’s. She knocks on the door and Stacy answers. “Hey Stacy!”

“Hi Mercy!” She sees the shopping bags. “You went to the mall without me?” she pouts.

“It was a little trip with Kurt, Santana, and Ms. Carole, but if your parents wouldn’t mind, we can have a girl’s day and shop ‘til we drop, and then we can end with mani/pedis and lunch.”

“Really?”

“As long as it’s cool with your parents.”

“I’m gonna ask them right now!” She runs up the stairs.

Sam appears at the door. “Why is Stacy so excited?”

Mercedes walks into the house and he closes the door behind her. “I promised her a girl’s day.”

He pouts. “Without me?”

She smiles. “First, you and Stacy are so alike it’s scary. And second, you really wanna shop for hours and then get mani/pedis?”

“As long as it means spending time with you.” He leans in and kisses her.

She smiles. “You’re gonna have to see if Stacy will let you come.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Kurt knocks on Karofsky’s door. “Hello?” There’s no answer, so he knocks again. This time the door creaks open. He walks into the house. “Hello?”

“Hi Kurt,” says Karofsky behind him.

Kurt gasps and turns around. “I’m sorry. I knocked. The door creaked open.”

“I heard you, but I couldn’t answer the door. I was on the phone. My lawyer called. The D.A. is dropping the charges against me.”

“They’re not gonna charge you with killing Quinn?”

“I didn’t get the details, but he said the blood evidence was corrupted. The district attorney can’t go to trial without it.”

“So, they’re finished with you?”

“Not finished. They can charge me anytime they find new evidence. But…for right now, I’m free,” he smiles and Kurt smiles back. “Once I get this ball and chain off my leg. I’m waiting for my dad to take me to the courthouse for that.”

“I could drive you. If you want me to.”

Karofsky smiles him.

At that moment, Mrs. Karofsky opens the front door. “David, honey? Mr. Dugan called with the good news. Did you hear?” She sees Kurt. “What are you doing here?”

“Um, I had some assignments for David.”

“I told Mrs. Hagberg that we didn’t want you as a tutor.”

“I never agreed to that Mom,” Karofsky speaks up.

She sighs. “We’ll talk about this later. Let’s go get that bracelet off.”

“Kurt offered to drive me. I’m going with him.” He grabs Kurt’s hand and leads them out of the house.

“I see,” says Mrs. Karofsky after the door closes in her face. She opens the door again. “Just wait until the meeting tomorrow, you will never see each other again!” she slams the door.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After dinner with the Evans, Sam walks Mercedes to her car.

“Thanks for offering to take Stacy shopping, with both of my parents working know, my mom and sister haven’t had any ‘girl’s days’.”

“It’s my pleasure Sam. It’s the least I could do. When things were entering World War III territory with mine, your family took me in. No questions asked. I’m forever grateful to them.”

“Well, I know another way you repay them.”

“How?”

He smiles. “Become their daughter-in-law.”

“Sam! Now you know we’re too young to be thinking about that.”

“I know, but I just think about it a lot. Especially after you had your accident.”

“I promise you, I will never put myself in that kind of danger again.”

“What about Q? We still don’t who it is.”

“Me, Kurt, and Santana are close. I can feel it. Kurt got a tip from Karofsky of all people and we’re putting the pieces together.”

He kisses her softly. “I’m glad you are, I just don’t want to see you hurt again.”

“Like I said, I promise to keep myself away from danger.”

“Okay.” He opens her car door. “Text me when you get home?”

“Always.”

“I love you, Mercedes.”

“An interesting time to tell me that for the first time, but…I love you, too.”

He leans into kiss her and they share a soft peck. She gets into her car and closes the door as Sam walks back to the front door and waves goodbye. She waves back and drives away.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After Karofsky get his bracelet off, him and Kurt drive the Lima Bean. They sit at a table and celebrate Karofsky’s new freedom.

“You could just keep going. If that’s what you wanted,” says Kurt

“They could pull me back whenever they want. Anyway…I don’t like running. I’ve done too much of it,” replies Karofsky.

“You could start to get your life back.”

“I’m not so sure I want it back. Not the way it was. I have to make some changes. Maybe join glee?”

Kurt laughs nervously. “Maybe, um, I, um, figured out what the message means. I figured it wasn’t a message more like a number, 2-1-4. What does that mean?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

“David…”

“I got an email from someone named Q.”

Kurt gasps.

“It mentioned you, Mercedes, and Santana. It said, **'They wanna know who I am, here’s a clue- 214.'** Does that number mean anything to you?”

“It could be anything. A house number, an area code…”

“We have to figure it out, for both our sakes.”

“Do you have an idea who Q is?”

“No, but I think they’re afraid of you guys.”

“Why?”

Karofsky shrugs. “Afraid of what you could reveal about them?”

Kurt sighs. “I have no idea.”

“How awkward do you think the meeting is gonna be tomorrow?”

“Not awkward, more like embarrassing.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The next morning at school, Burt, Kurt, Karofsky, Paula, and Blaine are having a meeting in Figgins’ office.

“Now, it has come to my attention that there was an altercation in the cafeteria the other day. Oddly enough it wasn’t between these two students,” says Figgins.

“Not surprising,” says Burt.

“Dad,” reprimands Kurt.

“Blaine, you were mediating this altercation. What happened?” asks Figgins.

He clears his throat. “Um, Paula came into the cafeteria looking for Mrs. Hagberg after, apparently talking with you about Kurt being David’s French tutor and you having no problem with that. She was clearly upset and decided to rudely bring Kurt’s sexuality into the mix and embarrass him.”

“Look, this isn’t personal. This is about what this school is doing to my son,” says Paula.

“You made it personal when you rudely made fun of his sexuality,” says Blaine.

“How is it personal when it’s pretty clear?”

“Mom! Stop!” yells Karofsky.

Burt scoffs. “Yeah. It’s about your son. It’s about you trying to make him into some kind of professional victim and using my son to do it.”

“I don’t expect you to understand,” says Paula.

“Oh, I understand. I understand that you always think there’s someone else to blame when things get difficult.”

“You’re upset…”

“No, not yet. But I’m getting there. My son is a compassionate person. He helps anyone in need. That it who he is. So, you drop this, Paula. Drop it, or I’ll show you and your family what a real agenda looks like.”

“Okay! I’ve heard enough,” says Figgins. “Now, Paula, I would like to formally apologize to Kurt and his family. And to keep from this happening again, Kurt you are no longer David’s tutor.”

“No!” says Karofsky.

“David,” says Kurt. “It’s okay. I was just trying to help. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“Kurt, I’m sorry for embarrassing you in the cafeteria. This was private matter and I made it public,” says Paula.

“That’s okay.”

“Okay. I think we’re done here,” says Figgins.

They all get up to leave his office.

“Blaine, wait up,” says Burt. Blaine turns around. “Carole and I wanted to invite you to our house for dinner as a thank you.”

Kurt has shocked look on his face.

While Blaine looks stunned. “Oh, um, thank you, Burt. I would love to.”

“Great! Carole will talk you and we could possibly get together next week.”

“Awesome.”

He turns to Kurt. “Okay, well I gotta get back to the garage. Have a good day, okay?”

“Yeah.” He hugs Burt. “Bye, Dad.”

“Bye Kiddo.” And he walks out of the school.

Blaine stands next to Kurt. “Did that just happen?” he asks.

“Yep.”


	14. Evil or Just Naughty?

* * *

The friends are all sitting in the lobby of the auditorium listening to Blaine give out instructions for auditions.

“If you’re auditioning for _The Bad Seed_ , you need to sign up here and wait by the auditorium door until your name is called. Thank you, and good luck.” He goes into the auditorium.

“Start with the line about the stolen medal,” says Mercedes to Santana who’s helping her run lines. She gets distracted and sees Rachel walk into the auditorium. “Why isn’t she wearing any shoes?”

“So, she can look short enough to play an eight-year-old,” laughs Kurt.

“She already dresses like a toddler and a grandmother combined,” says Santana.

Mercedes laughs and rolls her eyes. “What’s my line?”

“I don’t see anything about a medal.”

“No, that’s what the eight-year-old killed her classmate for. A penmanship medal. That’s why they call her the bad seed.”

“A penmanship medal, really?”

“Didn’t you guys read the whole play?”

“Don’t look at me,” says Kurt. “Santana’s the one auditioning. I’m just here for moral support.”

“Why do I have to read the whole play?” asks Santana. “I don’t wanna be the bad seed’s mother. I want the other mother, the one who’s drunk all the time."

Mercedes laughs. “No comment.

“Are you still ragging on me for bringing a flask to a dance?"

“I don’t need another parent, Spence. A mom, a brilliant doctor dad, and a very conservative grandma is enough.”

“Hey guys!” says Rachel when she walks out of the auditorium and over to the friends.

“Hey, Rachel. How did it go?” asks Kurt.

“Honestly, I nailed it. It was epic. I think Mr. Anderson cried.”

“Good for you, Rachel,” says Santana sarcastically. “I guess the rest of us should go home.”

“No! There are no small parts, only parts that don’t make it into the yearbook. Break a leg!” She walks away in search of Finn.

Blaine walks out of the auditorium about to call the next group of auditioners. Kurt starts sneaking glances at him and Mercedes and Santana notice.

Mercedes turns to Kurt. “Why don’t you audition? You kind of have an in with the director.”

“Stop.”

Santana looks over at him. “Is he wearing the tie you gave him?”

“Stop!”

“It would be so awesome to hang out with you two after school, see you as a couple,” says Mercedes.

“News flash. Just ‘cause we’re on this side of the building doesn’t mean that we can suddenly light candles and slow dance.”

“That’s the opening night party. ‘Hello, Kurt.’ ‘Hello, Blaine,’” says Mercedes dramatically.

“Are you finished?”

“It’s not like we’ll ever be able to go on a double date with you guys.”

“You won’t even send us pictures,” says Santana.

“Pictures? San, we meet at his apartment. It’s not Disney World.”

“We’re just saying it’d be nice,” says Mercedes.

“Believe me, I know. Wish I could. But I can’t.” He flips though the script. “Okay San, where’s your next scene?”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

_In the middles of the night, Mercedes is walking through her house at night. She hears a baby cry and walks down the stairs into the living room, where a baby is lying in a bassinet. As she approaches the crib, someone sneaks up behind her and covers her mouth with his hand._

Mercedes wakes up with a start. She hears ripping noises and goes downstairs to investigate. When she gets to the bottom of the stairs, Bryce is in the living room, using a tape gun to pack up some boxes.

“Oh, hey. Didn’t, uh, wake you, did I?”

“Sort of. Are you packing or unpacking?” she walks into the kitchen and pours herself some coffee.

“Uh, little bit of both. You know, I gotta make room. Babies come with a lot of gear. It’s time I get rid of some of this dead weight.”

She stirs in her creamer. “What’s in there?”

“Junk, mostly. Yearbooks. Baseball gloves, trophies. Stuff my mom probably wants more than me. Listen, can you, uh, hold this flap down for me?”

She doesn’t move.

He sighs. “It’s a tape gun, Mercy. You won’t get hurt. “

“I know that.”

“Really? ‘Cuz you flinch every time I come near you.”

She starts walking back toward the stairs. “I have to go get ready for school.”

“Hey, Melissa told me what you said to her at the basketball game.” She stops walking and turns around. “You think I had something to do with what happened to Quinn Fabray? Well, for the record, I didn’t. Though I’m not surprised she ended up that way.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means your friend Quinn was a psycho stalker who wouldn’t take no for an answer. Someone else probably had enough of her.”

“Yeah, or maybe you had enough of her.”

“Listen, our relationship could be summed up in two words: Get lost.”

“Right, well, it’s too bad she’s not here to defend herself.”

“Trust me, she never played that position. Your friend Quinn was always on offense.” He finishes taping up the boxes and she heads back upstairs to get ready for school.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Across town, Kurt is knocking on Blaine’s door. He opens the fresh out of the shower.

“Surprise!” says Kurt holding up a newspaper.

“Uh, hey. What’s this?”

“Your newspaper.”

“I don’t subscribe.”

“Oh. Oops.” He tosses the paper down the hall and walks into the apartment.

Blaine nervously laughs. “Hey. W-what’s up? What are you doing here?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to talk to you before school.”

“About your parents wanting me to come over for dinner? I don’t have to do it, Kurt. I can cancel.”

“No, don’t cancel. I want you to spend some quality time with them.”

“Why?”

“Because. It’d be cool if my parents could see how special you are. And I want my friends to see that, too.”

“And why do we suddenly care what your friends think about me? Have you told them about us?”

“Um…” Kurt starts looking anywhere other than Blaine’s eyes.

“Your crew will like me just fine. I cast Mercedes and Santana in the school play.” He walks into his bedroom and Kurt follows him.

“Really? Excellent! They’ll be so psyched.” He sits on the bed. “Who’s your stage manager?”

Blaine goes into his closet and puts on his underwear. “Um, couple of kids have asked. Why?”

“Well, you’ll be spending every day after school and weekends…so, if I’m stage managing we can see each other all the time.”

He’s looking through his clothes. “On campus.”

“Off campus, too. It’ll give us an excuse to finally have coffee outside this little apartment.” Blaine gives him a look. “I love this little apartment! I do. A lot.”

“Kurt.”

“Come on!” He gets up and walks over to the closet. “Let me be your stage manager, please?”

“Part of me says this is a terrible idea.”

“But I’m not talking to that part. Just say yes, Blaine. Come on, just say it. Say it.” He gives puppy eyes. “Please?”

Blaine sighs. “Yes.”

“Yay!” He leans into kiss him. 

“You know, it’s not fair that you cornered me right when I got out of the shower in nothing but a towel.”

Kurt starts touching the waistband of Blaine’s underwear. “I saw an opportunity and I took it.” He leans into kiss Blaine again.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After school, the first rehearsal for _The Bad Seed_ are in full swing.

“Are people born evil, or do they learn it?” asks Blaine to the group. “I brought some additional material to give you guys some background on the period.”

“Do you need help?” asks Kurt.

“Oh, no, I’m good, thanks.” He grabs the stack of papers. “So, I recommend that you read the novel, and to whet your appetites, I copied the first chap—“ He clumsily drops the stack of papers and Kurt rushes to help him pick them up. “I-I got it. Thanks. Why don’t you hand out the schedules?”

Kurt reluctantly gets up and grabs the schedules from the table to pass them out.

“Oh, Kurt, uh, while you’re up, could you do me a favor?” asks Rachel.

“Sure. What do you need?”

“Could you grab me some hot water with a little bit of lemon?”

“I’m not a servant, Rachel.”

She rolls her eyes and starts texting Finn. Presumably to bring her hot water and lemon.

“I, um, think you’ll see, even with the novel, Rhoda is not the typical eight-year-old. Only the janitor is—” Bryce walks into the room and Blaine sees him. “Yes?”

“Uh, I’m guessing this isn’t the varsity booster club. My bad. Sorry.” He sees Mercedes and waves to her and then walks out the door.

“Okay. Let’s all look at the first scene with Rhoda and the janitor,” says Blaine. “If you’ll turn to page 25.”

“He is so creepy! I can’t believe you ever kissed him,” whispers Kurt.

“We all wanted to kiss him,” says Mercedes.

Santana shakes her head. “Never.”

“At that frat party when he was big man on campus? The one that Quinn got us into?” Mercedes reminds her.

“Not me.”

“Yes. You,” says Kurt.

**Flashback**

The four friends are at the frat party and it’s in full swing. They’re standing in the yard so Quinn can handout their fake IDs.

“You are so bad-ass,” says Kurt when he looks at his fake. “Did you make these?”

“Where’d you get this picture of me? I look like my mother,” says Mercedes.

“That is your mother,” replies Quinn.

They walk into the party, showing their IDs to the “bouncers” and he lets them go through.

“You guys can thank me later” says Quinn when she starts to walk away.

“Wait! So…what do we--what do we do now?” asks Kurt.

“Act your new age,” says Quinn simply.

“Hey, Mercy, isn’t that your sister’s new boyfriend?” asks Santana when she sees Bryce hanging by the stairs with a Bud Lite in his hand talking to a very drunk sorority girl. “He’s kinda cute. So is his friend.”

“He’s a little bit old for you,” says Kurt.

“Not tonight… ‘cause I’m 26!” says Santana excitedly.

“Put that away,” reprimands Quinn.

“Yeah, and stop skipping math with Puck. You’re 21,” says Mercedes.

The sorority girl is giggling uncontrollably and falling all over Bryce. He picks her up and starts taking her upstairs. “Okay. All right. Just right up here.”

“Looks like Mr. Melissa is giving Miss Rum & Coke a special tour,” says Quinn.

“Maybe he’s just taking her to the bathroom. Or finding an empty room so she can lie down,” says Mercedes.

“Yeah, on top of her,” says Santana. Mercedes and Kurt give her a horrified look. “What?”

“Look, I don’t know about you vestal virgins, but I’m here to make some memories,” says Quinn. “Let’s divide and conquer and meet back here at midnight.”

**End of Flashback**

“You should’ve said something to your sister that night,” says Kurt.

“Like what? ‘I crashed your boyfriend’s frat party’? I would’ve been so dead,” says Mercedes.

“Like your sister isn’t now? Yeah, knocked up with his bad-ass seed,” says Santana.

“Santana, why do you think that the janitor in the play is the only one who knows the little girl’s not a liar?” asks Blaine.

She looks like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Um, that’s because the janitor is childlike himself,” says Mercedes, helping her out.

“It’s like when we were reading Shakespeare, and Blaine talked about the fools and how they can get away with saying...things that...other people can’t,” says Kurt. He starts trailing off because he realizes his mistake.

Blaine clears his throat. “Let’s just focus on this play. Okay?”

……

“Don’t tell me you’re still working,” says Carole when she sees Blaine still in his classroom after rehearsal.

“No, just prepping. I like to fool myself into thinking they actually read some of the things I put up on the bulletin board.”

She walks into the room. “Look at you, you’re teaching, writing, directing the school play. Do you even have time for a home cooked meal?”

“Yes, I do! Sorry, I haven’t gotten back to you. Just getting the play started has been sucking up a lot of my time.”

“That’s okay! No one’s upset at you. It’s just that Kurt has been very excited to have you over.”

“Oh really?”

“Now, don’t tell him I told you this, but Kurt thinks that you are pretty hot stuff. You’re his favorite teacher, other than Mr. Shue.”

Blaine laughs. “I promise I won’t tell him. And I actually have some time tonight.”

“Oh! Perfect! Kurt cooked tonight. He’ll be so excited!”

“Let me just run home to freshen up and I’ll be over around 8.”

“That’s no problem.” She grabs a pen and paper from his desk. “Here is our address.”

“Awesome! I’ll see you in an hour.”

“Yes! See you soon, Blaine.” She walks out of the classroom.

……

An hour later, Blaine arrives at the Hummel-Hudson household and rings the doorbell with a box of brownies in hand.

Finn answers the door. “What’s up Mr. Anderson?”

“Hey Finn.”

“Come in.” Blaine walks into the house and Finn sees the brownies. “Yes! You brought dessert!”

“I figured I couldn’t show up empty-handed.”

“Mom! Burt! Kurt! Mr. Anderson’s here!”

Carole and Kurt come from the kitchen.

Burt walks downstairs and extends his hand to Blaine. “Hey Blaine. Glad we’re finally doing this.”

Blaine reciprocates the handshake. “Me too, Burt.”

“And you brought desert?” says Carole. “How thoughtful!”

“Like I told Finn, I couldn’t show up empty-handed.”

“Thank you, Blaine.” She takes the brownie box. “Finn, help me finish setting the table.” He follows her into the kitchen.

“What would you like to drink, Blaine?” asks Burt.

He laughs. “Got a beer?”

Burt laughs. “Of course, I do.” He goes into the kitchen and grabs it.

There’s a little bit of an awkward silence between Kurt and Blaine. Especially since they haven’t talked about Kurt’s slip-up in rehearsal.

Kurt clears his throat. “Thank you for coming over.”

“Well Carole found me after rehearsal and I couldn’t refuse when she asked again.”

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry for what happened at rehearsal.”

Burt comes back with beer. “What happened?”

“I, um, forgot to print the schedules,” Kurt lies quickly.

“And I was just about to tell him that it’s okay,” says Blaine. “Just be more diligent for next time.”

“Dinner’s ready!” says Carole from the kitchen.

“Shall we?” asks Kurt.

They all go into the dining room and sit at the table. Obviously, Kurt and Blaine are sitting next to each other.

“So, Blaine, how do you like living in Lima?” asks Carole.

“Different from New York, but it was time to come home,” answers Blaine.

“Home?” asks Burt.

“I’m originally from Westerville. I moved to New York for college, but when I saw this teaching job here, I wanted to move back home for ailing father.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” says Carole.

“He’s doing a lot better actually. He’s not in remission yet, but he’s close.”

“Well, we’re glad for that,” says Burt.

“So, Carole, how long have you and Burt been married?”

“Just a year, but we dated for two,” she answers.

“I would expect you guys were together for much longer.”

“Some days it definitely feels like that,” says Burt.

“Thank you, Burt,” she says sarcastically.

“In the best way possible!”

“Dad, just stop talking,” says Kurt.

“Do you have anyone Blaine?” she asks to move on with the conversation.

Kurt starts getting pale.

“Um, no I’m not. And not really looking. I’m too busy with school to commit myself to a relationship.”

“Well, let me know when you’re ready. I have some guys at the gallery who would be very interested in you.”

“Thank you, but I won’t be ready for a long time.”

Carole notices how pale Kurt is looking. “Kurt, honey, are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine,” he lies paying a lot of attention to his salad.

……

After dinner, Burt, Carole, and Blaine are talking in the living room while Kurt and Finn are cleaning up.

“You know, when you talk about your writing, you seem much more relaxed than when you talk about your day job,” says Carole as she sips on her coffee.

“You’re not hiding out at that high school, are you?” asks Burt.

“What?” says Blaine.

“Listen, Blaine, I have known many gifted people who were too scared to bet on their own talent. And I’m talking about at anything.”

“No, no. No. Not me. I love teaching high school.”

“Oh, of course you do. I mean, everybody always loves their first class,” says Carole. “You bond with them in a special way, but don’t forget-- the same kids that you love are gonna move on, you know?”

“You know, time goes by so fast. I mean, Kurt’s already looking at colleges in New York,” says Burt.

Blaine clears his throat.

“If you taught at the college level, you’d have a lot more time for your writing,” says Burt. “And if you’re interested, I have some connections over at the University of Lima.”

Blaine looks at him with an intrigued look. He looks at his watch. “I should get going. I have a few papers to grade.” He goes over to the front door and grabs his coat.

“No problem. It was wonderful having you over,” says Carole.

“Thank you for a home cooked meal.”

“Kurt! Finn! Mr. Anderson’s leaving,” says Burt.

Kurt and Finn come out of the kitchen and meet Blaine at the door.

“Nice seeing you, dude,” says Finn as he gives Blaine a fist bump.

“Good seeing you too, Finn.”

“I’ll see you at rehearsal?” says Kurt as he holds out his hand.

“Of course, Mr. Hummel.” They shake hands.

Carole gives him a hug. “Drive carefully.”

“I will.”

“It was good talking to you Blaine.” He gives him a handshake.

“You as well Burt.”

“And if you’re serious about what we talked about, just call.”

“I will.” He opens the door. “I’ll see most of you tomorrow!” And he walks out the door.

“Bye Blaine,” Carole waves out the door.

……

The next morning, Kurt races to school so he can talk to Blaine before the students get there. He finds Blaine in the auditorium taping out the floor.

“Hey. You’re…already taping. I thought you wanted me to,” says Kurt.

“I did, but I got here early and had some time to kill.”

“Look, I’m sorry about slipping up yesterday, but I don’t think anyone picked up on it.”

“Oh, they did.”

“I’ll be more careful. I promise.” A bit of an awkward pause. “So, how was the after-dinner coffee with my parents? What’d you guys talk about?”

“Lots of stuff. Burt offered to help me get a job at University of Lima.”

Kurt gives me a confusing look. “Why? You already have a job.”

“But there’s one class available there, and it could lead to something more.”

“Why would you need something more?”

“Truth is, I…need something less. If I worked at U of Lima, I would have more time to do my own writing.”

“Yeah, but teaching here hasn’t kept you from your writing, has it?”

“Not entirely, but I gotta think about the future.”

“So, you’re planning on leaving here?”

“Maybe, eventually. But you are, too…leaving eventually, right?”

The door to the auditorium opens and Rachel waltzes in.

“Oh, hey, Mr. Anderson. I was looking for a place to rehearse.” She sees Kurt. “Oh, Kurt, um, I’m a little parched. Have you had a chance to pick me up some throat coat?”

“You’re gonna have to go get your own tea, Rachel. I’m a stage manager, not a gopher.”

“You sure have been biting like one lately.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After school, they’re back in the auditorium for rehearsal.

“Where do I sit?” asks Rachel.

“I haven’t blocked it yet, Rachel. We’ll get to that on Saturday.” He sees Mercedes and Santana walk in. “For those of you just arriving, the stage has been taped off to mark the living room, and the prop table is being stocked as I speak.”

“Wait, this Saturday? I can’t be here this Saturday.”

Blaine looks at Kurt.

“I only sent the email to those who were called for that rehearsal,” he says.

“Well, am I called in or not?” asks Rachel.

“We’ll be blocking that scene on Saturday. I thought I mentioned that,” says Blaine.

“You didn’t,” Kurt replies shortly.

“Mr. Anderson, can we find a way to work out the _kinks_ in the system?” asks Rachel.

“I assure you, Rachel, from this point on Kurt will be on top of things.”

“I just need some clarification from our director on the scheduling. Can we take five, everyone?! Thanks.”

Everyone leaves the auditorium.

“Are you still angry at me about yesterday?” asks Kurt.

“I’m angry at myself because I knew this wasn’t gonna work,” says Blaine.

“Fine. I will help you find a new stage manager, but it sounds like you’re trying to replace me in other parts of your life.”

“Who said that?”

“You did. You said everybody’s leaving here. And why were you talking about your future versus our future?”

“Because they may not be linked!” He takes a breath. “Look, I’m not saying I’m leaving here tomorrow, but, let’s face it-- we are not tied to this place forever. You’re looking at colleges in New York, which you have every right to do.”

“One. I looked at one college in your favorite city. We could move there together!”

“Kurt, that’s not how it works.”

“Why can’t it if we want it to?”

“The whole point of college is to broaden your world, not pack up your high school English teacher and bring him with you.”

“You’re _not_ just my high school English teacher. Is that how you see yourself?”

“No. But you will, when the time comes.”

…

“Cute couple, aren’t they?” asks Santana cynically as she and Mercedes are waiting outside the auditorium.

“We should study our lines,” replies Mercedes.

“Yeah, I still don’t get my second scene.”

“Your character is suspicious.”

“It doesn’t say that in the script.”

“That’s because it’s underneath the words. That’s the reason why she’s drinking.”

“No, she’s drinking because her kid drowned.”

“Tana, at this point even the little girl’s mother thinks that she’s a murderer. It’s the drowning, the old lady who fell down the stairs, the janitor who was set on fire…”

“I was just talking about this scene. She could think it was an accident.”

Bryce walks in front of them.

“Maybe there are no accidents.”

“What do you mean?”

“We never questioned what happened at that party.” 

**Flashback**

“I really like that top, Mercy,” says Santana as she and Mercedes hang out by the pool table.

“Thanks.”

“And I think someone else might like it, too.”

They look up to see a guy staring at Mercedes.

“No."

“Why not? He’s drooling in his beer pong cup. Just go talk to him."

“No."

“Go talk to him!"

Suddenly, they hear something thudding down the stairs and screaming. The friends run over and it’s the girl that was hanging over Bryce earlier.

“Are you okay?” asks a boy.

“Don’t touch her!” yells a girl.

“I’m gonna go get help!” yells a boy.

“Somebody call 911!” yells a girl.

“She’s still breathing,” says a girl.

Mercedes looks up and sees Bryce looking at the body straight-faced. “We should go. Now.” She whispers to the others.

**End of Flashback**

“Why didn’t you tell us about Bryce at the top of the stairs before?” asks Santana.

“I…I didn’t think about it till now. What if that girl didn’t fall just ‘cuz she was wasted?”

Kurt walks out of the auditorium. “We’re starting.” He sees the horrified looks on their faces. “What’s going on?”

“The night that we crashed that frat party…” starts Santana.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“We’re thinking Quinn wasn’t the first person Bryce shoved,” says Mercedes.

…

They’re back from their break and Mercedes is sitting on a couch with an apron on and Rachel is sitting in an adjacent chair glasses and a hat on.

“So, what do you think? Are people born bad?” asks Blaine to the students.

“I’m having a hard time figuring out who’s evil and who’s naughty,” says Rachel.

Blaine giggles. “I think you’re smart enough to know the difference, Rachel, but let’s ask some of your cast mates. Mercedes. Thoughts?”

“Yes. Some people are evil,” she answers.

**Flashback**

The police and ambulance are the house. Bryce is being questioned while the girl is being loaded up into the van. And the friends are standing on the front lawn watching it all unfold.

“We should get out of here,” says Kurt. “They’re gonna start questioning everyone.”

“We can’t leave without Quinn!” says Santana.

“I voted for mini golf,” says Mercedes. “This was a huge mistake.”

Quinn walks over to them in the most laid back fashion. “What’s going on? What happened?”

“You missed it? Where were you?” asks Kurt. “That-- that girl that was with Bryce, she fell down the stairs, and it was terrible.”

“Can we just tell her on the bus?” asks Mercedes.

“Note to self: Don’t drink and dive,” says Quinn cynically.

“If my mom finds out I was here, I’m gonna be grounded until I’m 50,” says Mercedes.

“Guys, if we run away like babies, we’ll definitely be questioned.” She walks over to a police officer.

“What is she doing?” asks Kurt.

“Excuse me. My friends and I made the mistake of having a little drink before we ate, and none of us feel comfortable about getting behind the wheel. Can we trouble you for a ride back to Lima?”

The police officer nods and she walks back to the group.

“What-- what are you thinking?” asks Kurt.

“I’m thinking we’re not taking the bus.” She pushes them toward the police car. “Chillax, ladies. The bolder the move, the less anyone questions it.”

Quinn looks back at Bryce who gives her an understanding look and Mercedes sees the exchange.

**End of Flashback**

“I think my character’s being totally selfish. I don’t even know how to play that,” says Rachel.

“Miss Verne is protecting the future of her school, Rachel,” explains Blaine.

“So, is she forgivable or not?”

“It’s unforgivable if she’s only thinking of herself,” says Kurt snidely.

Blaine clears his throat. “Let’s stop here. These are all good thoughts. We’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow. Study your lines. Put away your props. I’ll see you then.”

Everyone starts packing up their things and leaving.

Mercedes is putting away her apron when she finds a trophy with blood on its base. “Guys.”

Kurt and Santana walk over.

“What’s that? Is that blood?” asks Santana.

“Oh, god, no,” says Kurt.

“You don’t think that’s what Bryce used to kill Quinn, do you?” asks Mercedes.

“Guys, slow down. We don’t know that that’s Quinn’s blood. We don’t even know if that is blood,” says Santana.

“Yeah, but we don’t know that it’s not,” says Kurt.

“That’s insane. Why would he hide that in here for everyone to see?” 

“Because it’s a bold move, and no one would ever look for it here,” says Mercedes. “Why did the bad seed hide the medal in the box on top of her desk? Why didn’t she just bury it?”

“Because she was eight!” yells Santana.

“Wait, we saw the video. Bryce did not have a trophy in his hand,” says Kurt.

“We didn’t see what was on the ground. It could’ve been in his luggage. This was when they were together at Hilton Head,” says Mercedes.

“What are we gonna do?” asks Santana.

“We hand it in,” says Mercedes. “We’re not wasting time losing evidence again.”

“Mercedes is right. This goes to the police now,” says Kurt.

Mercedes grabs the box and they leave the auditorium.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After handing in the evidence, the friends walk out of the police station. A weight has been lifted off their shoulders, so why do they feel so queasy?

“So, what do we do now?” asks Santana.

“Just wait,” answers Mercedes.

“How long until the police figure out that it’s Quinn’s blood?” asks Kurt.

“I don’t know,” says Mercedes. She sighs. “I don’t want to go home. I don’t want to be anywhere near where Bryce is.”

“You can stay at my place,” says Kurt.

“Can I come stay at your place?” asks Santana. “I don’t know, it just feels weird splitting up after this.”

He nods his head. “I can’t believe we had it, the weapon, in our hands,” says Kurt. “After all this time, it’s like…”

“Like Quinn can finally rest in peace,” says Santana.

“Yeah. We all can,” says Mercedes. She sniffles. “We’ll pick up some food on the way to Kurt’s.”

“Actually, can we just make one stop along the way?” he asks. “I-I promise it won’t take long.”

“Yeah, sure,” says Mercedes.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Kurt furiously knocks on Blaine’s door. He opens it and Kurt charges in. “Sorry to bother you, but I’m—I’m not sleeping tonight until I say this.”

“Take your coat off. Sit down,” says Blaine.

“No, no. I’m not staying. I just came here to say that I signed up for the play for all the wrong reasons, so I’m officially done. You’re right, it was a terrible idea.”

“Kurt—" 

“But you were wrong too…about the future. You have no idea what’s gonna happen tomorrow. Nobody does. My friend Quinn, she didn’t. She didn’t get a future. She didn’t even get to turn 16.”

“Listen—"

“No, let me finish. I don’t know if I’m gonna end up in New York, or at the Louvre in France-- it doesn’t matter. We’re both here now. Can’t we just be happy that we have that?”

Blaine walks over and kisses him.

“Good answer.” And he walks out of the apartment.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The next morning, the friends are in glee club waiting for any news about the murder weapon.

“I can’t wait for him to be carted out of here. Just knowing that he’s in this building now—” starts Santana.

“Thinking he could get away with it,” says Kurt. “Her blood on that trophy. Makes me sick.”

Mercedes looks up and sees the police in the hallway. “Guys.”

“Oh, my god. They’re going to drag him out in front of the whole school,” says Kurt.

The detective walks into the classroom.

“Why is he coming in here?” he asks.

“Excuse me, everyone. Who’s, uh, Mercedes Jones?”

She raises her hand meekly.

“So, was this a group effort?”

“What do you mean?” she asks.

“I mean, you should’ve done a little research. There’s no golf tournament at Hilton Head on that date.”

“What about the blood?” asks Kurt.

“It’s not human blood. Comes from a rat.”

“No, but why would there—” starts Santana.

He notices the rest of the glee club. “Let’s save our questions for the precinct. Follow me.”

They grab their things and follow the detective with the entire glee club watching. They walk outside and over to the cop car.

“Detective Breyer?” calls a cop.

“Wait here.” He walks over to the cop.

Their phones start buzzing. **“Rat” me out, your blood’s next. --Q**

“Fucking Q,” says Santana.

“We should’ve known,” says Kurt.

“Where was she that night?” asks Mercedes. “At the frat party when the girl fell, where was Quinn? She wasn’t with me and Tana.”

“And I was in the bathroom when it happened,” answers Kurt.

“What are you saying?” asks Santana.

“I’m saying maybe it wasn’t Bryce who pushed that girl. Maybe that drunk girl was just in Quinn’s way,” explains Mercedes.

“Why would Quinn do that?” asks Santana.

“Because that frat party wasn’t a random pick. She took us there because she wanted to see Bryce. Maybe she was stalking him.”

“Wait, so now you believe Bryce?” asks Kurt. “You don’t think he killed Quinn?”

“I didn’t say that. I think he killed her. There’s just a lot about that night that was still don’t know.”

All three look behind to see Bryce smiling sinisterly from the school’s entrance.  
  



	15. The Girl Who Cried Wolf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Everyone,
> 
> I'm sorry it took me months to update this story! I was involved with a lot of projects and then COVID took over everything. But now that I have a ton of free time, I decided to finally update this story! I hope you guys enjoy!
> 
> Syd

* * *

The friends are at the police station talking to the Detective one by one.

“The video was sent to us by an anonymous source,” says Mercedes with her mom sitting next to her. “Probably the same person who sent it to you.”

“It was loaded onto Mercedes’ laptop,” says Kurt. “This time we saw who Quinn was talking to.” He clears his throat. “It was Bryce. He told her to come closer…and she did.”

“Bryce and Quinn were together the weekend before she went missing,” says Santana. “Mercedes called Hilton Head.”

“Bryce lied to Mercedes. He stayed at Hilton Head last summer,” says Kurt.

“This is what I don’t understand-- Bryce was a star athlete, right? Popular guy, dating a beautiful woman like your sister,” says the Detective. “You really think he would risk all that to be with Quinn? She was barely 15.”

“Well, maybe he has a thing for younger girls,” replies Mercedes.

“Why would you say that?”

She sneaks a glance at her mom. “I don’t know.”

“Were there other younger girls he was interested in?”

“Not that I know of,” she answers.

“No,” answers Santana.

“No one, but Quinn,” answers Kurt.

“That’s enough for today,” says the Detective. He gets up from his chair and Mercedes and Veronica follow him out into the lobby where Kurt, Santana, and their parents are waiting.

“You’ll be available for more questions?” asks the Detective.

“Of course,” answers Veronica. “They have nothing to hide.”

“Are they being charged with something-- conspiracy to commit an honest mistake?” asks Burt. “Haven’t they been through enough?”

“The kids are free to go.”

“I’m still trying to process this,” says Carole.

“It appears our kids have been the victims of a cruel joke.”

…

“Whoever said, ‘the truth will set you free’ never met Q,” says Kurt.

“Jesus. It’s from the bible. Jesus said it,” answers Mercedes.

“Then Kurt’s right, because that bitch is going straight to hell,” says Santana.

“I wasn’t completely honest in there. I should have been, but my mom was right next to me, and with the whole Brendan thing, I couldn’t bring myself to say that I hooked up with Bryce.”

“That has nothing to do with this. I lied about it too, Mercy,” Kurt says. “You know, sometimes telling the truth does more harm than good.”

“Who said that?” she asks.

“Quinn.”

“Hey, Kurt,” says an officer.

He turns around and sees Henry. “Hi, Officer Reynolds.”

“Look, I wanted to apologize for not carrying the Karofsky situation to fruition.”

“It’s okay. After he almost went to jail for killing Quinn, it was easier to forget about it.” 

“And I’m sorry they’re putting you guys through this.”

“Officer Reynolds?” calls the Detective.

“Probably wants a refill on his coffee and another jelly donut.” He walks over to the Detective. “Sir?”

“You know those kids?”

“Kurt was the boy at Homecoming who was dumped at the hospital by David Karofsky. The case you told me to forget about.”

He clears his throat. “You think they’re telling the truth?”

“I don’t know why they would lie, sir.”

“Neither do I. But you’re gonna help me find out.”

“Sir?”

“Unless you want to go back to writing parking tickets.”

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

The next morning, Mercedes walks downstairs and sees her parents having breakfast in the living room. A very rare occurrence.

“Hey Bug. Did you get some sleep?” Peter asks.

“A little,” Mercedes answers.

“Yeah, we all needed a night to settle down and…rethink this,” says Veronica.

She sits down on the couch next to Peter and he hands her some coffee. “Have you talked to Melissa?”

“Yeah. Yeah, we talked to Melissa and Bryce. They weren’t that surprised,” he answers.

“In hindsight, your sister saw it coming and we should have too,” says Veronica.

“Saw what coming?”

“We should have insisted that you see someone after they found Quinn. We’re not blaming you, honey, we’re blaming ourselves.”

“Like-- like a shrink?” She turns to Peter. “Daddy?”

He puts his arm around her. “Look, you-- you told the police everything you know. So, while they’re doing their job, we just think you should see a therapist, talk about how you feel.”

“I-I feel scared,” she replies. She starts to cry. “I feel scared every day that he’s here. Please, there’s nothing wrong with me.”

Melissa and Bryce walk into the room.

“I hope you get the help you need,” says Melissa.

“Mercedes, I want you to know I’m not angry with you. I’m…confused, but I’m not mad,” says Bryce.

“What I don’t understand is why you came back to Lima. You got away with it,” says Mercedes.

“You’re sick!” says Melissa.

“Melissa,” reprimands Peter.

“That’s how I deal with this, Dad. I have to believe you’re ill.”

“If you had just stayed away, no one ever would have known,” says Mercedes.

“Now, that’s enough,” says Veronica.

“The trophy wasn’t real, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t do it.”

“Oh, my god!” Melissa yells exasperatedly. “Do you hear yourself?”

“You know what. I’m just making things worse by being here. Mercedes, I meant what I said.” Bryce walks out the back door into the barn.

“Why can’t you just let me be happy?” asks Melissa.

“This isn’t about you!” yells Mercedes.

“You’re right. Like always, it’s about you.” Melissa follows Bryce out.

She sighs. “Look, I know what this must look like, and…”

“No. Honey, I don’t think you do,” says Veronica.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

At school, Kurt walks to Blaine’s classroom with idea to surprise him with kisses, but he sees Rachel and he locked in a conversation. He watches them as he figures out what they’re talking about until his phone goes off. **The LOVER and the JILTED are now BFFs. Scared yet? You will be. -Q**

Blaine and Rachel turn to see Kurt at the door.

“Sorry for interrupting. I-I can come back later, if you’re busy,” says Kurt wanting to run away from the situation as fast as possible.

“I was just leaving,” says Rachel getting up from her seat. “Thank you again for your help, Mr. Anderson.”

“Absolutely, Rachel.”

“He’s all yours.” She creepily says as she walks out the door.

Kurt walks over to Blaine’s desk.

“Rachel is submitting a short story to a competition.”

“Oh, I…thought music and theatre were her things.”

“I think she’s got a shot at winning.”

“So, um, tonight I was thinking that I would cook instead of takeout.”

“Sure. I’ve got a faculty thing at 4:00, and I promised Rachel another round of notes.”

“What’s her story about?”

“Uncovering secrets. The protagonist holding a secret and expects her friends to keep it for her.”

“So. It’s about Quinn?”

“She says it’s fiction, but it begins on the night of the protagonist’s disappearance and no one knows who’s responsible for it. Did, um, this really happen to Quinn?”

“Um, Quinn was told to meet someone and she did. And a year later she was dead.”

“Her story suggests that her death wasn’t an accident.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Kurt clears his throat. “I’m gonna go.” He walks to the door.

“Wait.” Kurt turns around. “We’re still on for tonight?”

“Of course.” He leaves the classroom to see Mercedes and Santana coming down the hall.

“I can’t believe that this is happening,” says Mercedes.

“Do you want us to talk to them for you?” asks Santana.

“No.”

“Who?” asks Kurt.

“Cedes’ parents think she’s crazy.”

“Unstable,” Mercedes corrects. “And why should they believe me? I mean, we have no proof. I’m the girl who cried wolf.”

“And the wolf is living in your backyard,” says Kurt.

“Right, which is why we need to figure out what 214 means.”

Their phones beep. **You want a hint? Think about freshman year Valentine’s Day. –Q**

“It’s a date!” says Kurt excitedly.

“Quinn never told us about that day,” says Santana.

“She told me,” says Mercedes. “She said she had a fight with Finn. But what does that have to do with Bryce?”

“What if it doesn’t have anything to do Bryce?” asks Kurt. “What if him and Q aren’t the same people?”

“Look, I think we need to take a break from playing Charlie’s Angels. I don’t want to spend another night with the Lima P.D.,” says Santana.

Mercedes sees Henry and runs after him. “Hey!”

“And there goes Lucy Liu.”

She catches up to him. “Mr. Reynolds, can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“I know that most of the evidence we have on Bryce is weak.”

“‘Weak’? It’s nonexistent.”

“You have to follow up on Hilton Head. I know that he was there. I spoke to the clerk myself.”

“Don’t worry Mercedes. I’m waiting for a manager to call me back. If Bryce was there with Quinn, I’ll find out.”

She sighs. “Thank you.” She starts walking away.

“Hey, Mercedes.”

She turns back around. “Yes?”

“Why would Bryce want Quinn dead?”

“Because she was going to tell Melissa about their affair.”

……

Santana walks up to Brittany. “Hey, Britt-Britt. So, listen, how about you and I pop in some _Sweet Valley High_ this evening, get our cuddle on?” 

Brittany's eyes light up. “Really? You have time?” 

“Yeah, things have been really stressed out lately and I just want some time with my favorite person in the world.” 

Brittany giggles. “Well, lucky for you, Artie and Mike have plans tonight, so I’m free.” 

“Perf. Come over after school.” 

“Cool.”

……

Kurt’s in the bathroom washing his hands when Rachel walks in.

“I understand why you’re so enamored of Mr. Anderson. He takes such a personal interest in his students. I feel like I can tell him anything,” says Rachel.

Kurt doesn’t respond.

“You know, I was thinking of suggesting he add Orwell’s _1984_ to the reading list. You know…big brother’s always watching you.”

“Mr. Anderson isn’t easily enticed by controlling people.”

“It was just a suggestion, but then again, you do _know_ him better.” She walks into a stall and closes it behind her.

“Mr. Anderson told me about the story you’re writing.”

She takes a pause before she answers. “He did?”

“Yeah. Kind of upsetting that you would write a story that would hurt your boyfriend and best friend.”

She flushes and walks out of the stall. “Well, from how you’ve been treating me recently, we’re not best friends anymore.” She walks to the sink.

Kurt gets behind her. “Like you’ve been treating me any differently.”

She turns on the faucet. “We’re going a through a phase. By next week we’ll have forgiven each other.”

“Not if you enter that competition.” He whispers in her ear. “I will never forgive you.” He leans back. “And neither will Finn. Everyone sees how he’s been pulling away from you. If you enter and expose the dirty laundry, that’ll be the final nail in the coffin to dump you.”

Rachel looks at him through the mirror worriedly.

“But if you don’t believe me, enter the contest and see how pissed he’ll be. And then, who will you have then?” He leaves the bathroom leaving Rachel to shed a tear.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

After school, Mercedes is at Sam’s house talking to him about the clue Q gave them.

“So, it’s a date?” asks Sam as he’s lounging on his bed.

“Yes. Freshman year Valentine’s Day to be exact,” replies Mercedes as she sits in his desk chair. “Something happened on that day and I need your help figuring it out.”

“I know Finn and Quinn had a fight that day.”

“That’s what I know, too. But do you think they had a fight on purpose?”

He sits up. “What do you mean?”

“I mean someone could’ve orchestrated the fight so they could do something that they wanted to do.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. If I know Quinn, she would want to keep up her and Finn’s appearance on a day like Valentine’s.”

“I get that, but when Quinn told me about it, she was very nonchalant. Like she didn’t care that it happened.”

“Maybe, in the end, she got what she wanted.”

“But what did she get?”

“That’s what we need to figure out.”

"I think we need to talk to Finn."

He gets an uncomfortable look on his face.

"What?"

"Finn and I aren't on the best of terms right now, but you can talk to him."

She nods her head.

"And if he tries to make a move on you, I won't hesitate to break his face."

She chuckles. "Trust me. Nothing is gonna happen. Strictly business."

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Santana is cuddling with Brittany on her bed. Actually talking for the first time in a while.

“I’m glad we’re getting to spend time together,” says Brittany.

“Me too. It feels like we haven’t talked in forever. I’ve missed you Britt-Britt.”

“And I’m sorry about your girlfriend.”

“It’s okay. She’s ‘getting the help she needs’. According to her parents.”

“I always wished that we would be the first sweet lady kisses couple to walk down the hall.”

“Well, you wanted to be with Artie more than me so…”

Brittany sits up. “I wanted to be with you Santana, but you didn’t want to come out. Then Dani shows up and you can do it for her. Do you know how much it hurt when you did that? I cried for weeks.”

Santana gets off her bed and walks toward her vanity. “See, this is why I think it’s better when it doesn’t involve feelings.”

Brittany gives her a look.

“Besides I didn’t fully come out. And I’m not interested in any labels, unless it’s on something I shoplift.” She looks at the time and sees it’s almost 8:30. “Let’s go out to that dive bar that you like.” She gets back on the bed. “We can karaoke your favorite song.”

Brittany smiles and nods her head.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

“Welcome home, honey,” says Kurt as Blaine walks through the door.

Blaine sees the table set and candles everywhere. And sees Kurt looking especially hot. “Wow. Hi. Are we celebrating something I’m not aware of?”

“No.”

“You’re wearing this outfit because…?”

“Because I just…wanted to hear you say wow.”

Blaine chuckles. “I like coming home to you. Sorry I’m late. Things with Rachel took longer than I thought. I can’t stop thinking about her story.”

Kurt holds out a platter. “Cheese ball?”

“Sure." He grabs one and sits on the couch. "Her story is so raw, which is surprising, coming from somebody who seems incredibly shallow. Is she always like that?”

“Sometimes. When the situation calls for it.”

“I can’t believe this happened to you guys. How do you bounce back from that?”

“You don’t," replies Kurt tersely. "Can we just talk about something else?”

“Yeah.” He realizes why Kurt is so angry. “Babe, I’m sorry. Talking about this is probably stirring up a lot of negative emotions.”

“Dinner’s almost ready,” Kurt replies as he heads back into the kitchen.

BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS~BSS

Brittany and Santana are at the karaoke bar and Santana’s watching Brittany onstage.

**Brittany:**

I'm up against the speaker, try'na take on the music  
It's like a competition, me against the beat  
I wanna get in the zone   
I wanna get in the zone   
If you really wanna battle, saddle up and get your rhythm  
Try'na hit it, chic-a-tah  
In a minute I'ma take ya on (I'ma take ya on)  
I'ma take ya on 

“Hey, everybody, can you help me get my friend up here to sing along?”

There’s cheers and applause from the audience.

“No. No way.”

The applause continues.

“They love you already.”

“You know I don’t do karaoke.”

“Glee club is basically the same thing. Come on, Tana. Take a walk on the wild side!”

There’s cheers and applause again.

Santana smirks and walks on the stage and grabs a mic. “I am so gonna get you back for this.”

 **Brittany and Santana (Santana with Brittany):**  
All my people on the floor  
Let me see you dance (Let me see ya)  
All my people wantin' more  
Let me see you dance (I wanna see ya)  
All my people round and round  
Let me see you dance (Let me see ya)  
All my people in the crowd  
Let me see you dance (I wanna see ya)

 **Brittany and Santana (Brittany):**  
Get on the floor  
Baby lose control (Yeah)  
Just work your body (Uh-huh)  
And let it go (Let it go)  
If you wanna party  
Just grab somebody  
( **Santana:** Hey Brittany) we can dance all night long  
  
 **Santana:**  
Hey Brittany, you say you wanna lose control  
Come over here, I got somethin' to show ya  
Sexy lady, I'd rather see you bare your soul  
If you think you're so hot, better show me what you got...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Used: Me Against the Music (Glee Cast Version)

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think, leave comments!


End file.
